Last Night
by kamul9311
Summary: I'm Tenten, I'm a typical college student who does typical college things, and it's all fun and games until you wake up one morning hung over, naked and alone with all the evidence of one incredible night with a stranger you don't remember. N/T Sh/I
1. This morning

The moment I woke up that morning I knew that I had done something horribly wrong the night before. My first clues were the unrelenting throb throughout my skull and my mysterious lack of clothing, the later being the more alarming of the two. So what happened last night? I remembered leaving for a club with Sakura and Ino (the very people that were supposed to ensure that this didn't happen), then I remembered helping myself to a bottle of who knows what, then another, and another. I couldn't remember after the fifth, and even that was hazy. Great.

Now, I've been to my share of clubs and had maybe a little more than my share of alcohol in the two years since turning twenty-one, plus the occasional gathering before then, but never have I woken up the next morning both naked and clueless as to how I'd gotten that way. I stayed in bed (thank God it was at least my own) for another forty five minutes waiting for my body to stop aching and the room to stop spinning, moving only to dry-swallow some asprin from the bedside table, before the sound of my cell phone sounded from somewhere else with in my apartment. On any other hung over morning, I would have just ignored it, but my desire for answers proved a little stronger than everything else.

As slowly as I dared, I pushed my legs off the side of my bed and pushed the rest of me up into a sitting position. Upon glancing at the full-length mirror across from me, I didn't even try to stop myself from swearing out loud. I was looking at myself through smudged and smeared eye liner and mascara, and my hair looked roughly akin to your typical rats nest, but that really wasn't the least of my worries. I was far more concerned about the scratches and bruises across my lower neck, collar bone, and torso. I staggered forward, ignoring the temporary blindness and fierce throb behind my eyes to get closer to the mirror. My fears confirmed, the bruises turned out to be hickeys of varying sizes and the scratches obviously matched a hand bigger than my own.

My phone kept ringing, so whoever it was apparently had something incredibly important to say, which was just fine by me because I was perfectly content to take my sweet time where I was trying in vain to remember _anything._ It was one of the worst couple minutes of my life, trying to think of who I had been with, but being almost to afraid to really want the answer. It's not that I was against the sex itself, this wasn't my first time or anything, but I couldn't stand the idea of being that close to a total stranger. If that were the case, I'd never forgive myself for being so easy or irresponsible (not to mention, I had no way of knowing this guys medical history or if it needed to be considered at all). On the other hand, what if it was a friend? I thought about the guys I know and consider friends, even to slight degrees, and cringed at the thought of sleeping with any of them. Even if they weren't strangers, sex would put way to much strain on a perfectly functional friendship.

Finally, I had to give up. If I still couldn't think of any detail, I had to hope that someone else could. I walked stiffly to my doorway, now understanding that at least some of my aches and pains could probably be blamed on activities other than drinking, and thankfully didn't have to look very far for the ringing phone. I found it in the pocket of my favorite jacket, which I remembered putting on before going out last night but couldn't for the life of me remember when it got tossed over the back of the couch again.

Before I could get out so much as the first syllable of a weary 'hello', Sakura Haruno's voice cut me off at a yell.

"Where the _hell _did you go last night?" Damn. That meant she didn't know much more than I did.

I tried to remain calm so as to avoid adding the stress of a temper to the hang over, "You know, I actually don't know much of anything right now -" she cut me off again.

"Well that's just great! I spent last night trying to keep Ino from doing something stupid in her drunken haze, and then before I know it, you up and disappear with some stranger, never to be seen again. Do you have any idea what it's like to worry about one friend MIA, while simultaneously trying to keep the other one –the supposedly LESS responsible one- from running off? I've been trying to call you, and waiting for you to call me, and debating about calling the police, ALL night…" I held the phone away and let Sakura continue on. I knew the lecture, having sat through a few of them directed at Ino in the past, and didn't really see the need to listen to it around a splitting head ache only made worse by walking around and the sunlight streaming in through the window across from me.

When the speed and volume of her voice noticeably decreased on the other line, I cautiously resumed holding it normally to the side of my head, but cut her off before she got too heated up again, "Sakura, I get that you're pissed, but please take into account that I've got a mother of a hangover, on top of the after affects of what feels like _incredibly_ hot sex, and frankly, I'm a little insulted that the bastard didn't even stick around to introduce himself afterwards."

The line was silent for a few moments, then: "You _slept_ with some stranger?"

"Yes. And believe me, there is absolutely nothing you can tell me about how stupid I am that I haven't already told myself ten times over, so just do me a favor and _please _tell me you know who I left with and when."

I could tell she tried to bite back the all the words she wanted to say, and for a second I thought she might actually do it, but I've been wrong before. "Oh, Tenten. You don't even know his name?"

She sounded like she pitied me more than anything, so I gave her credit for at least trying and sighed, "If I was to drunk to think about sleeping with him, or even remember it for that matter, I was definitely too drunk to care about who he was."

She sighed into the phone and I could just picture her running her hand through her pink hair the way she always did, "I don't know. After we were first separated I saw you a few times, always with different people, but then I just didn't see you any more. I was too busy keeping Ino from running off with her ex to notice who the last one was or when I noticed you gone. I just assumed you'd be ok, so I didn't think to look for you sooner before we left. I'm so sorry, Tenten. It was my turn keep you two out of trouble and I completely failed at it. If I had done better at it this wouldn't have happened."

"Don't worry about it. Really. You did the best you could after Ino got drunk and it's not like any of us would have guessed what would happen. I'm actually just happy that I woke up in my own bed and in one piece."

"Right. Be thankful for little miracles, and all that. Ino just walked in, should I tell her what's up?" she asked

"Go for it. I desperately need to shower anyway."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later. Dinner tonight? How's Mexican food sound?"

"Great. See you guys then." We exchanged good-byes and hung up. I tossed the phone back onto the couch, but as I turned to leave caught sight of another jacket on the cushions that I didn't recognize. It was leather, and good leather at that, so definitely wasn't mine (as a college student working part time, such things as real leather jackets were a bit out of my price range), and a look at the tag revealed it was a men's size medium. 'Well,' I thought bitterly, 'at least even when drunk I can pick out the guys with good and expensive tastes'. That alone didn't offer much comfort, so I awkwardly checked the pockets for a wallet or ID, but got nothing. Oh well. It really couldn't be that easy. I tossed the garment over the back next to mine and went back into my room for the shower I so desperately craved.

~!X!~

I felt significantly better after a long shower and the asprin from earlier took effect, but that didn't mean I was in any hurry to get out and face the world. I didn't put too much effort into picking out clothes; just threw on a pair of blue skinny jeans and black high-tops that happened to be close by, but did actually go hunting for a black button up collared shirt that would hide the evidence from last night. I pulled my hair up into two buns at the top of my head to keep it out of the way and headed out into the living room to the adjoining kitchen to boil some water for coffee and put a breakfast hotpocket in the microwave. The clock on the wall read 12:23; a little later than I usually get moving, but I wouldn't hold it against myself today.

I walked back into the living room to locate my keys, which I knew I must still have because I needed them to get into my apartment last night, but unwillingly stopped at the unfamiliar jacket on my couch. I held it and ran my fingers over the material, hoping the feel of it would spark a memory the way it sometimes happens with amnesia patients. No luck. I rolled my eyes and mentally kicked myself for being stupid enough to think it would work, but none the less lifted the jacket to my face and inhaled; my sense of smell was better than the others anyway. I was hit with the scent of alcohol and a vanilla spice cologne, but no memory of coming into contact with it the night before. The microwave beeped in the kitchen and I dropped the jacket back down, frustrated and disappointed, but not all that surprised.

I finished my hotpocket and instant coffee in just over five minutes and was out the door in ten (I found my keys on the floor just inside the doorway). I worked part time at a little coffee shop two blocks from home. The pay wasn't great, but it was in walking distance (I didn't own a car), and the staff and regular customers were friendly, plus, when you're having a bad day nothings better than a discount sugary coffee drink, so it had its perks. My shift started at one that day, I walked in the door at 1:03 to the usual Saturday afternoon crowd of business men and women on lunch break and teenagers looking to kill some time until something better came along. I waved to my coworkers Kiba and Lee on my way in back, but didn't stop to chat yet.

When I came out sporting the mandatory black apron, Kiba met me at the door.

"So how was the club last night?" He had that mischievous glint in his eyes and smirk like he knew something happened, but I knew he was full of it, and just wanted to make things seem more exciting or trick me into telling him something.

I rolled my eye's at him, "Let's just not go there, 'kay?" I side stepped him and moved to make drinks for Lee as he took orders.

"Wow, that bad?" he leaned on the counter next to me and started handing me some of the things I would need.

"Worse." He whistled and gave me the whipped cream and a lid. I caught Lee's inquiring look between customers, and shook my head at him to tell him I'd talk about it later and put out the latte I was working on. The three of us worked in relative quiet for the next hour, switching between working the register, making drinks, and wiping down tables, and I let myself forget my worries of the day and fall into the general rhythm of working.

~!X!~

By the time my shift was over at seven, I don't think I could have been happier to see it go. I love Lee and Kiba and all, just not enough to tell them I got drunk and slept with a stranger after clubbing. I could tell they were curious, and I can't blame them for that; it's what I get for saying it was miserable and then not elaborating, and I was glad they (well, Lee, mostly) tried to pretend they didn't care, but there were times that I swear I could have cut the awkward silences and curious tension with a butter knife. I left the closing to them and walked another two blocks over to the Mexican restaurant where Sakura and Ino would be waiting for me. The three of us got together at least once a week for a meal together, usually Saturday's for dinner, to swap stories, gossip, plans, and ideas of the week. It was a habit we got into freshman year of college, when the stress of classes was getting to be too much, and it just stuck for the next three and a half years. I reached the restaurant and made a beeline for our usual table, where I found both of my best friends in a heated discussion over drinks.

Sakura Haruno was the first person I met after moving to the city for collage. She was kind enough to stick around and show me the area, and we've been close ever since. Her pink hair had grown out since I'd met her, and now hung just above mid back with her bangs delicately framing her face with an overall pleasing effect combined with soft mint green eyes. She was working on being a doctor, and was at the moment balancing classes and an internship at the local hospital under the (scary) head doctor. She was kind of the 'mother hen' of the three of us, but we had to love her for it.

Ino Yamanaka joined us a year later. She and Sakura had apparently been on and off friends since childhood, but they seemed to have worked it out for good this time. Her hip length blond hair was almost always pulled back into a high pony tail with side bangs, and her bright blue eyes and perfect figure were enough to make almost any guy swoon and any girl jealous, and she knew it. Her parents ran a flower shop at the center of town where she helped out from time to time, but she was aiming for a career in cosmetology, which she said was her true calling. She was a party girl through and through, and had more experience with dating than I had with breathing.

The two of them turned when I reached the table, and I gave a half smile and slid in next to Ino, where my usual glass of coke sat waiting for me, already ordered. Sakura gave me one of those look that said she was trying to assess what I was thinking with out actually asking, and Ino was focusing way to hard on something over my head to be normal.

"Alright, get the questions off your chests now, cause I'm not talking about it when the food comes." I said wearily, reading myself for the onslaught.

I wasn't disappointed. Ino spoke first, with "You have _no idea_ who he is?"

"Nope, but he left his leather jacket on my couch and if he doesn't show up to get it within the week I'm selling it online as compensation."

"A good leather jacket?" she raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow at me. Trust Ino to focus on the three hundred plus dollar detail of my story.

"Looks like it." I shrugged.

"Ino, forget the jacket. We should be worried that someone took advantage of her like that at all." Sakura said, "Tenten, have you considered calling the police into the matter? I mean, obviously you were to drunk to consent to anything, so who ever he was, he had no right come near you."

"That wouldn't do any good, she's already taken a shower so they wouldn't be able to match DNA or anything anyway." Ino rolled her eyes.

"Not necessarily," I said, "they could probably match dental records." I shrugged, and they both looked at me quizzically. Putting down my coke, I opened the top two buttons of my shirt and revealed one of the darker bite marks on the left side of my collar bone to them. Sakura did a sharp intake and her eyes widened at the mark, and Ino didn't even bother to contain her laughter, "Tenten, you _whore_!"

We both shushed her as I buttoned my shirt again, but I could help smiling at her.

"Oh my god, Tenten. When you said it was hot, I didn't think you meant like that! You're going to have that mark for over a week! Are there anymore?" Sakura asked.

"Yep. I got more bites and scratches from Mr. Mysterious than I ever got from Savage the hamster in fifth grade."

"But it was good, wasn't it?" Ino jumped in.

"Ino, I've had sex before, but on no occasion have I woken up like this, so I'm assuming it was great."

She laughed again, "Ooh, can I get this guys number?"

"Ino! We are not happy about this!" Sakura exasperatedly dropped her hand from where it was in her hair to the table.

"Come on, Sakura! Do you have any idea how rare it is to find a guy that good in bed around here?"

"She wasn't even sober to enjoy it."

"That doesn't make it any less hot." I smirked

"Amen!" Ino and I exchanged a hi-five and Sakura scowled at us from across the table.

"Tenten, you should be upset about this!"

"I am, Sakura." I rolled my eyes at her, "I've already thought about everything wrong with this situation, but that doesn't change the fact that it happened. Everythings relatively fine though. I got home safe and sound, you yourself convinced me to go on birth control months ago so I'm not worried about that –"

"And what if he had some sort of STD? Those aren't always easy to deal with or even curable."

"Then I'll go into the clinic of Monday and get checked, but until then, lets try to stay optimistic, shall we?"

I think she wanted to keep going, but a waiter appeared carrying our food (Ino and Sakura ordered my usual for me when they came) and I shot her a look that said I was done and directed my attention to Ino.

"So what's your story of the night?" I gave her a knowing look.

"What story?" she shrugged.

"Ha!" Sakura laughed, "She was practically all over that Shikamaru guy from the second he showed up with his friends."

Ino scowled, "I was _not_ all over him."

"Yeah, right. Don't pretend you weren't thrilled to see him."

"I was thrilled to see him- he's still hot, but that doesn't mean I was 'all over him'" she did a horrible mimic of Sakura's voice that we all laughed at.

"Why did you guys break up again?" I asked, curious even though I was sure I'd heard it all before.

"All he ever wanted to do was lay around and do nothing, then this girl moved here with her brothers from Suna and was totally into him, and he never bothered to tell her to take a hike, and then he picked up smoking, which, I mean, I could live with, just not _all _the time." She took a vicious bite from her enchilada and glared at it, as if it was to blame for her boyfriend troubles. Sakura and I exchanged a glance and smiled at each other. We've both known for months that she was still into this guy. She talked about him every time an opportunity presented itself, and sometimes we'd catch her staring off into the distance or talking to herself about the clouds. It was sweet, really.

We finished our meal talking about this and that, mostly things of little importance like new hair products or people at school, then split the bill and headed out. Ino was the only one of us that owned a car (a birthday present from her parents a few years back) but since she rented an apartment with Sakura the two of them pretty much shared it, so they gave me a ride back to my own place with out complaint. By the time I got upstairs I really just wanted to go to bed, but I forced myself to stay up long enough to strip my bed sheets off the mattress and put on fresh ones. I left the pillowcases though, because I discovered that one of them had the same vanilla spice scent that was one the jacket. Don't get the wrong idea here, I just like the smell. Really. I stripped down and donned just an over large t-shirt for bed, and was asleep in less than ten minutes.

~!X!~end~!X!~

I admit, the ending's kind of rushed, but what do you think?

I may or may not continue writing this one, but reviews/favorites/alerts might change my mind.

Thanks for reading!


	2. tying loose ends

I decided that I couldn't really just leave the story as it was, so I'll go ahead and continue writing and see where it goes.

Disclaimer: I do not claim any ownership of Naruto, LuisaViaRoma, or e-bay and this fanfiction is for entertainment purposes only.

****Notes for this chapter** **

-I feel like Lee's a bit out of character, but I kind of like it. Let me know opinions on this one.

-to make this chapter easier to picture, a link to an image of the jacket left in Tenten's apartment can be found in my profile.

-I'm not going to try to mess with currency conversions, so all money is referred to in USD, hope that's ok.

-language gets a little bit awkward (with talk of certain body parts) towards the end. Not too much, but just wanted to warn those who might be embarrassed. That's why the rating is M.

~!X!~

Sunday morning arrived after a dreamless but peaceful sleep and I pushed myself out of bed at just passed nine. I looked a little better this morning, still had the marks everywhere, but what can you do? After dressing in white skinny jeans and another button up collared shirt (red this time), I left the apartment to meet Lee for coffee, as I'd done every two weeks for months. We met at the same place we worked, even though neither of us worked Sundays, and I found him (always there before me, no matter how early I was) at a table against the front window flipping idly through a magazine from the rack at the counter. On principle, Lee never ordered anything for himself until who ever he was meeting showed up (one of the many qualities I immensely appreciated about him), so I'd taken to ordering for both of us as soon as I came in the door before greeting him.

Lee could often be described as your typical knight in shining armor, though he was often a bit overzealous about it. He had this way of acting like a total goof ball all the time, but always knowing exactly what you want to hear and when you want to hear it, and his habitual impeccable timing could be matched by no one. He looked a little odd between the bowl cut, bushy eye brows, and strange obsession with the color green, but it was easy enough to get used to. We were the same age, but he finished school a year ahead of me because he went into college right after high school, where as I opted to take a year off in between.

I set his cup down in front of him with a smile, which he returned with a bone crushing hug that only he could do.

"Tenten, I'm so glad to see you looking well!" He flashed his million dollar smile; the one that anyone that knew him could never help but returning.

"You too," I looked at the title of the magazine he had pushed aside at my arrival; Behind the Business was called a business magazine, but it actually focused more on the gossip and going-on's in the business world than the actual business, but I knew why he'd be even remotely interested, "Still no luck getting the job then?" I asked him, to which he only very briefly frowned before replacing his usual grin.

"No, it appears that my services are still not yet needed." He tried to shrug it off, but I knew better. Lee wanted to work in security, but the pay was right next to miserable unless you worked for a much bigger company that could afford to pay more. He'd been submitting applications and scheduling interviews at some of Konoha's largest enterprises for months, but still nothing, despite the fact that any idiot could see he was fully qualified just a year after finishing school (which he only did for resume purposes, anyway).

"Bull," I'd seen the Uchiha security guards on the one occasion I was needed in that part of town, and seventy percent of them were either on the verge of having a donut-induced stroke, or falling over for old age, which was ironic considering the Uchiha's were pretty much the head of our police force, "it's so obvious you're a better choice than half the staff. Those higher ups are just better suited for sitting behind a desk and wouldn't know security if it walked up and introduced itself to them."

Lee laughed as I took a tentative sip from my steaming cup. "The current employees are all under a contract, Tenten, but I'll definitely be the first in line for the job as soon as a position is free." He did a thumbs up, and I wondered how he could be so damn cheerful all the time. I used to think I was an optimistic person, then I met Lee and felt very much like the one rain cloud on a sunny day in comparison.

"Yeah, yeah. For their sake, that had better be soon; before some lunatic comes in with a sawed off shot gun and their 'security'" I did a quotation with my fingers to prove my point, "doesn't have any idea what to do about it."

He chuckled again, "I'm sure anyone hired into such a system is fully qualified to handle anything of the sort." I thought he was being too nice, but he changed the subject before I could say as much, "Anyway, how have you been?"

I decided to be honest and tell him about my little 'adventure' Friday night with Mr. Mysterious (as I'd officially dubbed him). He was worried for all the same reasons that Sakura was, but glad that there was no lasting harm done (well, that we knew of). We talked about it for a little while, and when there was nothing else to say moved on to another topic. We chatted for a while and refilled our drinks (this time he paid so we were even), then exchanged good-byes and headed our separate ways, but before I left I actually paid for the magazine (Lee had just been using his employee benefits to read it with out paying), not that I was really interested, I just caught Shikamaru Nara's name as I flipped through the pages and thought Ino might be interested to see what it was about.

~!X!~

I was in a good mood when I got home. Good enough that I actually resigned myself to cleaning the place up a bit even. I started with the kitchen- wiping down the surfaces in the dining area, and hand washing the dishes in the sink; cut through the living room to do the same in the guest bathroom, then my own. The general clutter in my room was either put in its designated spot or else kicked into a less conspicuous one, and finally, the living room. When I was done, I felt relatively pleased with myself, except for one little detail: I couldn't figure out what to do with that damned leather jacket.

I couldn't just leave it on my couch, on display for anyone that might so much as glance through the front door; I couldn't hang it up on the coat hooks by the door because it just didn't belong there and felt wrong to pretend otherwise; and when I folded it up and put it in a drawer off to the side of the room it felt like some dirty secret that I was trying to hide from the world.

I held it at arms length and glared at it, resisting the urge to chuck it at the wall, but only because I was above such childish actions. It was in good condition, whether because it was new or just had a careful owner, I couldn't tell. Either way, I guessed it had to have been worth at least somewhere between $350 and $400 new, and after all the financial troubles I'd seen to get through school I couldn't just let myself throw it away like that. I contemplated for a second, then huffed and stomped towards the door, jacket in hand. I was going to get it dry cleaned, and then I was going to sell it to the highest bidder on e-bay, and that would be that. If Mr. Mysterious had a problem with it, then he either shouldn't have left it here in the first place, or come back to get it earlier.

~!X!~

I opened the doors to a small but neat dry-cleaning business as determined as I was when I left my apartment. I filled out my name and number on a bright orange tag, in the untidy scrawl that usually results when I'm annoyed or stressed, and looped the string around the brand name sewn onto the collar of the jacket. As I waited impatiently in line, the doors opened behind me and I heard a voice call my name. Confused, I turned around and saw a classmate, Hinata Hyuga, smiling at me.

I was a little surprised she addressed me at all, I mean, we were friendly since we shared a few classes, but we didn't really talk to each other much. Truthfully, sometimes I felt like she was out of my league of friends, being in the main family of one of Konoha's most prestigious families and all. She didn't actually follow in the family business though. The Hyuga's ran a top-notch insurance company with a variety of clients, but rather that start working under her father, Hinata had opted to go to school and study child development instead. It'd been said that the only reason Hiashi Hyuga had allowed his eldest to do such a thing was because his nephew had proved to be more adept at a company life, so exceptions had been made to favor all parties.

Shoving aside my awkwardness, I greeted her, "Hey, Hinata. What are you doing here?"

She held up a few blouses and a skirt on hangers in answer, "just tying to get a few chores out of the way. Same for you?"

"Yeah, you could say that." I let an elderly woman cut in front of me so I could be with Hinata, "A friend of mine asked me to get is jacket cleaned for him." I wanted to keep the conversation going, but I definitely wasn't going to tell her that the jacket in my hand was left behind by a stranger.

She looked at the jacket in my hand, "Is that a LuisaViaRoma jacket?" she asked curiously.

I had no idea what she was talking about until I looked at the tag on Mr. Mysterious's jacket. The name looked like a much simpler name now that I'd heard it pronounced, but there it was in a loopy and elegant print: LuisaViaRoma.

"Yep, look at that, I guess it is."

"My cousin has a similar jacket, same brand. He's very fond of it."

"Really? Yeah, my friends pretty happy with this one, too." I hoped I didn't sound nearly as stupid to her as I sounded to myself, but suddenly, I had a thought. I knew absolutely nothing about designer clothing, but maybe she did. "Hey, I was thinking, and do you by chance know about how much one might pay to buy a jacket like this?"

She thought for a second as the line moved forward. "I think Neji bought his on sale, for around fifty-five hundred dollars, but I'm not sure exactly. I could ask him if you like."

I staggered as I stepped forward. Fifty five hundred dollars? On _sale_? And I thought four hundred might be pushing it!

Hinata noticed my suddenly paler complexion and asked if I was alright.

"Oh, yeah. Fine. Just didn't really expect it to be so expensive is all." I said nervously, "guess I'll have to think of something else for my dad's birthday." I added just for good measure.

"Yes, they do get a bit pricey, but the quality is excellent. Of course, most people don't really need such a sturdy leather, anyway."

We reached the counter and I let Hinata step up first. I looked at my orange tag and suddenly felt like my chicken scratch writing didn't do the jacket justice at all, but it was to late to change it. Hinata stepped back and I placed the jacket on the countertop. The lady looked at the expensive jacket then at me and my less than attractive writing, and I glared at her, knowing exactly what she was thinking. She looked a little affronted, but hung the jacket on a rack behind her and entered my name and number and some other information onto her computer for records. They said they would be done by 4:30 the same day, and I could pick it up any time before then. I found that odd, the last time I had been there to have one of my dresses dry cleaned they told me to come back in three days. I guess things do get done quicker when you're rich (or when you have a fifty five hundred dollar jacket with you).

Hinata and I left together and I looked at my cell phone for the time. 2:30, so I had two hours to kill if I wanted. Because I had nothing else to do and because I did like talking to her, I invited Hinata to have lunch with me, my treat, at a cheap diner down the street. She happily accepted and we walked down together, even though I was sure she must have had a car in the lot somewhere.

An hour and a half later we had finished lunch but were idling over cake and coffee in the same diner. We'd talked about just about anything and everything, and it was nice to really get to know someone and tell them about me. I loved talking to my friends about what happens in my life, but it was a different feeling when you're talking to someone and you don't know what their opinion on something is and you can't guess what they'll say.

Finally, Hinata looked at her watch and announced that she the dry cleaners should be done with both of our stuff by then. She reached for the bill but I stopped her and reminded her that it was my treat, which she protested because she's like the nicest person on the planet. We decided that she would just have to owe me one, and we walked with her back to the drycleaners and stepped in at 4:47. We were out again in another five minutes and Hinata walked to her car (a dark blue convertible that I thought was probably worth more than my apartment and life together). She offered me a ride home, but I declined, stating that I could use the exercise, which was not completely untrue considering how much I ate at lunch. I watched her drive out of the parking lot before taking my own leave.

~!X!~

The first thing I did upon arriving was retrieve my laptop from under my bed and start it up in the middle of the comforter. Then I found my digital camera on my dresser and took pictures of the jacket front, back, and tags and sat cross-legged with the computer. As the pictures uploaded, I searched leather jackets first to find out a general idea of what people were asking for, but it didn't help much considering leather jackets on e-bay go for anything between $10 and $8,000. Was Hinata right to guess that this particular jacket could be worth so much? I was happy just to get the thing out of my apartment, but I might as well get a good price for it for my troubles. I set the buy now price at $5500 (I could get lucky), and the minimum bidding price a much lower $400. Now it was officially not my problem anymore.

I spent the rest of the night flipping through TV channels, interrupted only by Sakura, calling to tell me that I had an appointment at the clinic the next day at two in the afternoon, Ino would be here to pick me up at 1:45, and missing the appointment would result in very bad things. I almost asked why she made me an appointment, but then remembered her primary concern in all of this and chose instead just to promise her that, come hell or high water, I would be waiting for Ino outside my building at 1:40.

~!X!~

At 1:53 the next afternoon I ran down stairs from my apartment with wet hair and one shoe on my foot, the other in my hand, to find Ino in the parking lot honking her horn in what I think was supposed to imitate the beat of the song she was listening to, but maybe it was just a coincidence. I jumped in the passenger side and she tore out of the parking space before I could even close the door.

"Geez, slow down a little, will you?" I ground out as she weaved through the lanes and I still hadn't got my seat belt on.

"You have six minutes to check into the hospital that's ten minutes away. Sakura is going to flip if you're not there."

"Well sorry I had classes until one." I said, rolling my eyes as I tried to put on my other shoe.

"So you just _had_ to take a fifty minute shower when you got home?"

"The shower was only twenty minutes. Getting home from school and then getting in and out of the shower, was thirty." I tied up the laces and lowered the visor to look in the mirror to finger comb my hair.

"A shower is not a necessary requirement to sit in an exam room, Tenten." She rolled her eyes at me and I returned the gesture.

"If someone is going to be looking at my you-know-what, then it's going to be clean."

"That doesn't matter, they're doctors. They don't care what they're looking at as long as they get paid to do it."

"_I _care."

She laughed at me, "I can't believe this whole exam is because you got drunk and had a one night stand, and you're more worried that some one will judge you based on the cleanliness of your vagina."

"Oh, watch the road." I scowled at her, even though she did have a point.

~!X!~

Sakura met us at the door (she was interning today, we'd take her home with us) at 2:03 and led us through the reception area and down some hallways, finally stopping at a door labeled 'Exam room 26'. She ushered me in first then let Ino follow before she stepped in herself and left the door open a few inches.

"You're late." Sakura said, but she wasn't as scary because she wasn't looking at me, but instead was ruffling through a drawer under the sink

"Ino was driving to slow?" I tried, hoping just this once that Ino might take the fall for me.

"Like hell!" the blond exclaimed, pausing in her examination of a diagram on the wall to glare at me while Sakura emerged from the drawer with a paper-like sheet of fabric and handed it to me.

I gave in, "Ok, ok, we're late because I took a shower when I got home and apparently took my sweet time doing it."

Sakura nodded, "That goes over you when you're on the table with out pants." She said, referring to the sheet. "Why did you have to take a shower?" She actually looked genuinely curious through her annoyance.

"She wanted to clean her vagina before she came in."

"Wow, it'd kill you to be subtle about some things, wouldn't it?" I asked Ino, trying to ignore the very slight tint of pink appearing on my cheeks.

"I call it as I see it, hun." She winked at me and I showed her my middle finger.

"Tenten, they don't care about that stuff, they're doctors." Sakura said

"So I've been told."

Before any of us could say more, the door was pushed open and a middle age woman walked in, clipboard in hand. She exchanged a greeting with Sakura and looked between me and Ino, I guessed she was trying to figure out who she was to examine, so I waved my hand to help her out. She smiled in that friendly way that doctors do and invited me to remove my pants and lay on the examination table. We may have been close, but I made Sakura and Ino face the wall with the doctor as I stripped down then hoisted myself onto to the bed and put the sheet in place.

The woman wasted no time in getting started. I supposed that Sakura had filled out the necessary paper work and included the reason for my visit, but I still didn't count on being asked various embarrassing questions to go along with the physical examination. I promise you, nothing is more humiliating that answering questions like "and did you notice anything strange, like maybe a sore or a rash, on his penis while you were having sex?" with your friends in the room and failing miserably at containing their laughter. Even Sakura was against me on this one.

"You guys could at least pretend you don't find this so amusing." I growled. I was also hoping that the doctor would get the hint about maybe being a little more subtle.

"Maybe next time you'll think twice about get hammered at a party." Ino snickered.

"Like you can talk, Ms. I-broke-up-with-a-guy-I-still-have-the-hots-for." It was a lame come back, I know, but I didn't have to dwell on it long before another question came from the doctor.

"Tenten, was anyone else involved in the sexual activities aside from the two of you?"

I gave Sakura a frantic look, but she only turned her head to choke a laugh into her palm, leaving me to fend for myself.

"Umm. No. No I really don't think so." I said quickly.

I could not have been happier when my torturer (oops, I mean doctor) stood up and instructed me to get dressed, which I did in record time with out really caring if the others were looking or not.

"I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but I want you to come see me if you experience any pain or itching over the next few days." She said and I responded with hasty assurances that I would do just that, even though I had absolutely no intention of ever coming face to face with this woman again.

"And I'm going to give you a few condoms, too, so that if you go out in a similar environment you can take them with you and they're handy just incase a need for them arises."

I caught Ino's eye and she silently laughed some more. "Yep, sure, sounds good." I told the doctor, already pushing for the door. As I grabbed the handle the doctor pulled open one of the drawers under the sink and pulled what must have been half a box of condoms, which she dumped into a plastic baggie and handed to me. Great, now I just had to walk through the hospital with a huge handful of condoms on display, with friends that were absolutely no help to me.

When we were FINALY allowed to leave Sakura led the way back through the halls, but she and Ino dared not say a word either in fear of provoking my wrath, or in fear of busting out laughing and causing a scene. I told myself it was the former to make myself feel better, but it was probably the later. As soon as we emerged from the hospital the other two started laughing, so I aimed a kick at Sakura, who was closest in front of me, hitting her squarely in the butt. She yelped and turned around but kept moving and laughing.

"That woman was insane, and this is all your fault for making me go to the damn appointment." I scowled, pointing my finger at her for effect.

She held up her hands in surrender "I'm sorry," she laughed, "I didn't expect her to be the one to do it. She works with kids most of the time, so I don't think she's used to beating around the bush about anything, much less things like this." We reached the car and I claimed front seat with out an argument.

"Was the shower worth it, Tenten?" Ino asked as she slid into the driver's seat. I threw a condom at her because it was the only thing I had handy, and they just laughed harder. I shoved half of my complimentary condoms into the glove box and repeated "just incase a need for them arises" to Ino, in what was supposed to be a bitter tone, but I couldn't stop smiling just a little as I did it.

~!X!~end~!X!~

I had a bit more fun with this chapter than I did with the last one, and if all goes well I've given myself tools to further develop the plot.

Remember to review/favorite/alert and I'll love you for ever.


	3. Life goes on?

**Notes for this chapter:**

There's a bigger focus on Shika/Ino romance in this one, but I promise it's all relevant.

~!X!~

Tuesday morning I woke up on my couch across from Sakura, and found Ino on the floor, curled on and around the throw pillows. They stayed the night because by the time we got here after leaving the hospital I found the whole thing much funnier and couldn't resist cracking jokes about it anymore than they could, so I invited them up and they just never left. Not that I minded at all, anything I would have done that night was made immensely more enjoyable by the company. I yawned and stretched, cracking my back in the process, and by time I opened my eyes again I found Sakura's green ones looking back at me.

"Good morning." She yawned.

"Uh huh." I replied as Ino stirred from the floor. Sakura stood up to stretch and I followed suit.

"Anyone got any ideas for breakfast?" I asked the room at large.

"Mmmm, negative." Ino answered.

I hardly noticed that Sakura had already walked into my kitchen and was inspecting my fridge and pantry. "You have eggs and bread still. They're both close to the expiration date anyway." She spoke over the counter/bar between the living room and kitchen.

Right, I forgot about those. "M'kay, Sounds good to me if someone else wants to cook."

"Gee, what a gracious hostess." Ino said sarcastically, still on the floor but now sitting up straight.

"As I recall, you guys just crashed on my couch and floor before I could kick you out, so you can get it yourself, Blondie." I stuck my tongue at her and she retaliated by hitting me with a pillow.

"I like that idea. Ino can make the food today." Sakura said coming back into the room and flopping down on the couch.

"Motion passed by a two-thirds vote. Hop to it, Ino." I fell next to Sakura and tapped my fingers on the arm of the couch in mock impatience.

"When did this friendship become so freaking democratic?" she rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at both of us before stalking into the kitchen.

"We love you Ino!" Sakura called.

"I'm putting handfuls of pepper in your food!" Ino called back in the same tone. Sakura and I exchanged amused looks and I hoisted myself up to get my laptop from my bedroom, wanting to check the bidding status on the jacket. On my way back out I remembered the Behind the Business magazine I bought on Sunday and grabbed that too. I opened to the page I wanted and leaned over the bar to talk to Ino.

"Cheer up, Ino. You'll be happy to know that you once dated…" I theatrically paused and pretended to read the title of the article, "…One of 'the Top Thirty Most Eligible Bachelors in the Modern Business World.'"

"Really? Great, but if he's under number fifteen I really don't care." She pretended not to be interested, but I knew better and humored her anyway as Sakura gave into her own curiosity and came to read over my shoulder.

"Hm, look at that. Number six, Shikamaru Nara." I watched her to gage her reaction, and she paused for only a second, but then busied herself with the stove. I rolled my eye's to Sakura and she nodded at my expression. Really, Ino just didn't get that her life would be so much easier if she just dropped her pride and admitted that she still liked the guy. "Don't you even want to hear the caption?" I asked her.

"Eh. What ever." She shrugged in an unenthusiastic manner, which only gave her away more because Ino was _never _so unenthusiastic about anything, unless of course she was feigning disinterest.

I cleared my throat and began reading, _" _'Shikamaru Nara of Konoha, previously almost unknown to the world out side his hometown, has moved up quickly through the ranks of our Behind the Business most popular. Though he is hardly from a notable family himself, as so many on our list are, Shikamaru is among the close social circle of both Neji Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha (each potential inheritors/partial inheritors of highly distinguished companies), in addition to various other names not uncommon in our magazine, earning him more than enough share of the spotlight to make himself known. Our sources say a reputation as a genius developed early for Shikamaru, and he's put his talents of quick and strategic thinking to use in aiding people -from small business owners just starting out, to experienced CEO's- everywhere in making financial, business, and in some cases political choices and strategies that always result in good things for the advice seeker.'_" _When I finished Ino still had her back to me scrambling the eggs.

"So? I think he's accomplished a lot in the last few years, what do you think?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I think he's probably pissed at who ever wrote that article, because now he's got a reputation to hold and expectations to meet." She laughed, and it only sounded a little bit forced. "Now I'm curious though. Who else is in there?"

I looked back at the page and read up the list from Shikamaru, "Number five, Naruto Uzumaki." I paused to allow room for comments, which Sakura provided.

"He's from around here. Went to school with Ino and I. Shikamaru, too for that matter. He's probably up there because he's been Sasuke's best friend since childhood, and like the article said for Shikamaru, got enough of a spot light to make his own reputation."

I scanned the article and got about as much information, 'hailed for an unnaturally cheerful and friendly personality… common face along side Sasuke Uchiha… common back ground and no extraordinary noticeable skills… blah blah blah.'

I continued with the list, 'Number four, Gaara Subaku'" I paused again, but this time it was Ino that interjected.

"He's from Suna. Kind of the loner, mysterious type, but apparently the family's well known just about everywhere else. His brother might be further down the list, too."

Yep. Kankuro Subaku ranked below Gaara at number eight, and what Ino said about the family all sounded about right according to the article.

"Number three, Itachi Uchiha."

"Sasuke's older brother." Sakura said, "A few years ago he was always at the top of lists like these, but then and Sasuke got older and started stealing some of his votes. He's the Uchiha protégée and eldest son, so he's been preparing to take over the whole thing when father retires, and that much money makes any man a popular bachelor."

"Which brings us to Number two, Sasuke Uchiha."

"Pretty much a give in that he's up there." Sakura didn't go into any more detail on Sasuke, but she didn't have to; I already knew this story. Sakura met Sasuke though Naruto when they were kids and eventually fell in love with him, but at the time he was so preoccupied with catching up to his brother that he never paid her any attention. He opened up more by middle school and they had a thing going for a very brief period of time before he up and went overseas to study, not telling her (or anyone else) that he was going until he was on his way to the airport that night and he ran into her in town and told her it was over. She held onto the hope that he would come back and be with her, until he finally did come back after high school and acted like nothing had ever happened. I think Sakura's biggest regret was that she cost herself the friendship with Naruto in her haste to distance herself from Sasuke.

Hasty to end the awkward silence, I read the final name, "And Number one, Neji Hyuga."

"Not surprising. If his looks didn't get him up there, his story would." Ino said, "He's not a member of the main family, so he usually wouldn't get much say in how to run things, but he's another protégée like Itachi, and when his father died and he moved in with the main family, his uncle had no choice but to accept that he was the best choice for the job since Hinata refused the position and Hanabi was too young to take on the responsibility."

"Right, so it's like an inverted and twisted Cinderella story." I decided as Ino slid a plate of eggs and toast in front of Sakura and I. "Speaking of Hyuga though, I had lunch with Hinata on Sunday."

"Really? How'd that go?" Sakura asked, mildly surprised.

"Really well actually. She's not at all what you'd expect from someone born and raised to take over a company."

"Yeah, I've heard similar things from mutual acquaintances, but haven't really had the chance to get to know her myself."

"I was thinking of inviting her out with us on Saturday, actually. I got the impression that she likes doing normal things like that sometimes." I tried to act casual, but secretly was a little afraid they'd resent my quick decision, but they both agreed with me with out complaint.

As we finished our food I opened my temporarily forgotten laptop on the counter next to me. It took a minute for everything to load up, and I was shocked enough to stop eating, mid bite, when I discovered that with five days still left on the auction, someone had already offered to buy the LuisaViaRoma jacket for the full $5500. I'd hardly ever had that much in my savings account at any one time, but now some one was just handing it over for a jacket that I just wanted to be rid of? I couldn't decide if I was lucky, or if fate was just waiting to play some cruel joke on me.

I must have been out of it for a while, because Sakura took it upon herself to look over my shoulder again. When she did, she paused the same way I had, but recovered my quicker.

"You sold the jacket?" she asked incredulously.

"Apparently," I looked at her trying to pick up hints as to how I was supposed to react, and Ino, who so far had no idea what was going on, pulled the computer closer to her to look at the screen and I watched her eyes go wide.

"You _sold_ his jacket? For _fifty-five hundred_ bucks?"

It was done, but what did I do now? The idea of that much money on its way to my bank account right now was like a punch in the gut that made me seriously think about what I'd done. I'd just sold someone else's possession, worth over five thousand dollars. I could buy a used car for that amount, but did that mean what I'd just done was the equivalent to stealing and then selling a car? I voiced my new concern of a grand theft charge to the other two, but both disagreed (though a little hesitantly at first).

"It was in your apartment for long enough, if he wanted it back he should have come to get it." Ino assured me.

"Yeah, and it's definitely not like you took it from him. He left it here on his own." Sakura continued.

"But what if he shows up now and wants it back? How would I get out of that one?"

"Calm down, Tenten." Ino instructed me, "It's not uncommon for people to find things in their place and mistake who it belongs to. If it really comes down to it, all you have to do is claim that you thought it was your dad's, and sold it because he didn't want it anymore." She sounded relatively calm considering she had just instructed me on how to lie to save my own ass.

"Not that it'll come to that, though." Sakura said quickly.

I nodded at both of them. They were right. I had every right to sell that jacket when I did. It was a perfectly reasonable decision….. I hoped.

Shaking away my insecurities I stood tall and smiled at them, "Well, girls, I seem to have come across a bit of money to spend, and I'd say we're far over do for a shopping spree, wouldn't you?" I wasn't really that into shopping, but sometimes it was nice just to splurge, and I've never been in a position that I could really shop with out worrying about meeting a hundred dollar maximum limit.

Ino caught onto my enthusiasm immediately, but Sakura, always the logical one, had an actual answer to my partially rhetorical question. "First, we all get dressed in clothes we didn't just wake up in. Then you should put the jacket in the mail as soon as possible, so the job is officially done."

"Geez, you sound like we're going to bury a body or something." Ino rolled her eyes but went into my room for clothes anyway. We all had at least three outfits in each other's closets from all the time's we've borrowed or lent out clothes, or clothes got mixed up in the laundry and never made it back to their respectful owner. It came in handy on days like this.

~!X!~

By the time noon rolled around, Sakura had sent the buyer an e-mail confirming the sale and promising immediate shipping; the jacket that just made my life significantly better was safely folded into a box, labeled, and dropped off at the post office (I paid for the fastest shipping method, just because I could afford it now); and we were at Konoha's three floor indoor shopping mall. I'd only been to the mall a few times before, since most of the stores were out of my minimum wage spending capabilities and the individual stores around town were more than enough to suit my needs. I felt a little out of place next to the stylish shops and even more stylish shoppers, and hoped that Sakura and Ino felt remotely the same.

It didn't take long to forget our frugal habits and become more and more comfortable with spending, but after three hours and six hundred dollars we'd had enough. Laden with more shopping bags than I've ever carried over the span of a month, we gave into the temptation of a box of gourmet chocolates at six dollars a piece, then loaded up Ino's trunk and headed home, this time to their apartment rather than mine.

As we pulled into the apartment, Ino was surprised (and annoyed) to find that her usual parking spot was now occupied by a new and very expensive looking bright red Ferrari that had never been there before. Personally, I was impressed that such a car was here at all, but Ino insisted that being rich did not give anyone the right to steal the best parking spaces and make people walk twice as far to their own apartment with a ton of shopping bags, and she grudgingly pulled into the next available spot.

Unlike my building, theirs had a small but convenient elevator in the first floor lobby. Ino reached it first and pushed the call button with her elbow and entered first. I followed her in and squished back to make room for Sakura in the small box. When the doors opened we gratefully filed out, but almost immediately, Sakura came to a dead halt, forcing Ino and I into a train-like collision behind her. I managed to hold on to the things in my arms, but I heard a shoe box topple to the floor behind me, followed immediately by a swear from Ino.

"Damn in, Sakura! What gives?" while she crouched down to resituate everything, I looked further down the hallway to assess the problem. I found it immediately, in the form of one Shikamaru Nara on the hallway floor, leaning with his eyes crossed and fingers touching against the door to our destination.

There was a moment of awkward silence as he looked at Sakura and I, Ino still crouched behind us, then an even longer moment of dead silence after the blond stood up, shoes and bags back in hand and following our gazes to the door. Then:

"No. No, no, no, no, no." Ino said, shaking her head with each 'no', "What ever you need, the answer is no." As she spoke she moved past us to the doorway, which Shikamaru wisely vacated, and fumbled with her keys to find the right one.

"I only need a place to stay for a little while-" he tried.

"Go somewhere else." She opened the door and stomped inside, leaving it open for us but Shikamaru went in after her, though he didn't go further that a few steps inside, leaving us room to sneak in.

"Ino, please, just a few days while my condo is being renovated."

"You have other acquaintances, I'm sure." She dropped the things in her arms onto the couch with a little more force than was necessary, then faced him with her hands on her hips.

"Sasuke's out of town with is brother, Neji's impossible to deal with at the moment, Choji's family is staying with him for an indefinite amount of time, and I will eat my socks before I condemn myself to staying at Naruto's."

"Find a hotel."

He rolled his eyes, but wasn't ready to give up, "Come on, we did agree to still be friends."

"Yes, but friends return e-mails and phone calls once in a while, which you haven't done in a year." Her eyes practically dared him to deny it.

"I've been busy." He shrugged, but obviously knew she had a point.

"I've noticed."

He seemed momentarily speechless, so she took the chance to guide him backwards through the door with a hand on his chest, which he didn't resist. "Please?" he tried one last time.

"Call Temari." She didn't bother to disguise her scorn and closed the door on him.

"You're still mad about that? I told you nothing happened." His voice was muffled through the door, but I could pick out the exasperation easily.

"Go away, Shikamaru!"

We heard him sigh and unmistakably slide back down the door to his earlier position on the floor, apparently content to stay there for as long as it took. Sakura and I looked at Ino's furious face, waiting for her to do something. We wanted desperately to talk, but knew anything said here could be heard from the other side of the door. She must have thought the same because she stomped further into the apartment towards her bedroom, with us hot on her heels.

"How dare he?" she spoke softly, but savagely, turning so abruptly that Sakura almost ran into her, then continued before either of us could get a word in, "How dare he show up here after almost a year of no real contact, asking for a favor like it's perfectly fine? And he made it sound like I was some last resort! Like that'll get him anywhere!" she paced from one end of the room, and Sakura and I exchanged nonverbal orders for the other to speak first.

Sakura, being Ino's technical best friend, lost our little battle and cautiously spoke first, "Ino, I was thinking, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, letting him stay for a little while."

Ino glared, so she hastily continued, "I mean, there are worse things than an ex asking for a place to stay. At least he's not asking for money, right?" she tried a week smile, but the effect was kind of lost in Ino's anger.

"Right, like he'd ever _need _money from me. Now he's too rich and important to bother with me anymore!" She whispered, not that that made it any less terrifying.

I decided it was time to try a different tactic. "You know, I don't want to encourage possibly taking advantage of any one here, but you could probably milk this if you played your cards right. Really, it doesn't hurt to be owed a favor by a newly made self millionaire."

She pondered my point for a moment, slowly nodding her head in thought, "Yeah… I guess you have a point, but what am I supposed to ask him for in exchange?"

With out hesitating, Sakura and I answered at the same time: "Dinner."

She raised an eyebrow at us, but chose not to say anything. Instead, she took a calming breath and returned slowly to the front door. She opened the door quickly (I suspected she would have liked to see him fall through it) to find Shikamaru looking up at her with inquiring eyes.

"Here are my terms:" she started, "I want access to your car while you're here," I assumed she was referring to the Ferrari out front, "And I want dinner one night at that fancy place in the middle of town." He sighed heavily, but agreed with minimal complaint so Ino let him in and showed him the most basic tours.

~!X!~

I left not long after that, leaving Sakura to deal with the awkward tensions hovering in the air (after she drove me home, that is). Almost immediately after I walked in my door, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I was tempted to just ignore it, but I was in a social mood, so I picked it up and greeted the person on the other line of an unknown number.

"Hi, Tenten?" I didn't recognize the voice, but went with it with the assumption that they'd introduce themselves.

"Yep, that's me. Can I help you?"

"I hope so." Her tone had a bubbly texture that I wasn't all together sure I liked, "I'm May, from Behind the Business Magazine. We want to feature an article about Neji Hyuga, you know, the top of our Most Eligible Bachelors in the Modern Business World last week, and I was hoping you had time to answer a few short and simple questions."

Well that was odd. I didn't remember signing up for any magazine calling list like this, but what the hell? I could set aside a few minutes for a quick gossip survey. "Sure, fire away." I told her, walking to the counter where the magazine from earlier still lay, open to a four by five inch snap shot of the very same Hyuga.

"Great! So, question one: Neji's been considered pretty far up there as far as good looks go since he came into the light, could you just describe his physical appearance as you see it?"

I looked at the picture in front of me, but didn't have to study it for very long to come up with my answer, "Definitely hotter than most, with out even trying to be." Sheesh, I'd been hanging around Ino too much.

There was a moment of silence while she scratched some notes down, but it didn't last for long, "Awesome, question two: Despite his looks, very few people have reported any sort of actual romance in Neji's life, do you have a guess as to why that is?"

"Sure. My guess is that he's more focused on his career than his personal life, pretty much rendering him un-dateable in most women's lives. Becoming heir to a company like that takes a lot of time, which can't be sacrificed for much else."

More writing. "Question three: You mentioned his growing career and the time put into it, but how much would you think he actually makes at the end of the day?"

"More than enough." I didn't even need to think about this one, "He's got to be walking away with a yearly salary of between one and two hundred thousand a year, so considering that he lives with the rest of the Hyuga's and most of his living expenses are paid for by someone else, it seems like he's got more money than he's got places to spend it. I say it wouldn't hurt him to share some with the rest of us, actually."

She chuckled, "Isn't that the truth? Last one, Tenten: In a purely hypothetical situation, if no one would ever know or ask, and the opportunity arose, do you think you would ever be tempted to engage in certain, um, let's say _intimate _activities?"

I almost immediately responded 'no', but caught myself and actually thought about it, staring at the magazine page for inspiration. "I guess I'd be tempted," I answered honestly, "He is attractive enough, and if no one would know, it might prove to be worth it."

"Fantastic! Thanks a lot!" She hung up half way through my "no problem", and I might have been fairly annoyed about it on any other day, but I was in a good mood, so I let it slide. I lounged around for the rest of the night, finally falling asleep around one AM in bed with the laptop on my lap.


	4. I did WHO?

I know I haven't updated in seven months, but in my defense, I think this chapter is significantly better now than it would have been had I finished it in January. Don't know where the inspiration to keep writing came from, but this chapter flowed very well and was finished in just over 24 hours, so we'll see how long that lasts, shall we?

~!-X-!~

The next morning I ran into Hinata at school and relayed the invitation to join Sakura, Ino, and I for Chinese food Saturday evening, which she seemed all to pleased to accept. My classes for the day ended at 1:30, after which I headed straight for my 2:00 shift at work. Kiba had the day off, so Lee was working with me today with a third co-worker named Rin, who I didn't talk to too much outside of work (as it turned out, we had very little in common). I returned Lee's greeting smile and wave as usual and crossed the shop to the back room to don the traditional black apron and grab a broom. It only took me ten minutes to sweep the main floor, probably would have taken longer if I didn't have a slight tendency of half-assing things like that, but they didn't pay me enough to scour the room for any hidden particle of dirt I might have missed. I returned to the back room to find my cell phone buzzing on my designated little shelf. I knew I wasn't supposed to take a call during a shift, but it wouldn't hurt to see who it was, right?

Ino's name and picture lit up the screen, and I was seized by a new wave of curiosity. She knew I was working, what could she possibly have to say? Checking over my shoulder in a paranoid way, I hit the answer button. "Make it quick." I told her.

Her bad mood seemed to roll out in waves over the phone as soon as she opened her mouth (I could tell that's what she did by the intake of breath), "Tenten. I need you to do me a very large favor that I wish with all my heart I could do myself." She started.

'_uh-oh_' was my first thought. "What's up?" I asked.

"Shikamaru's going there to meet someone about something at three. Can't image why they can't go to some rich person place to meet, but there you have it. Anyway, I need you to spit in what ever he orders. And make it a good one." I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow at no one in particular.

"Uh, why?"

"Jack ass made a huge mess all over my god damn kitchen and left his shit spread around the entirety of the front room, and I _told _him I was expecting a customer for a haircut and the place had to be clean. Now I've got to clean the damn place and it's not like I didn't have a million other things to do in the first place. Seriously, hawk a big one. I have to go." She hung up before I could even start to tell her how vulgar she was.

Rolling my eyes, I replaced the phone and headed back into the main room. Sure enough, just under twenty minutes later, Shikamaru walked through the front door, eye's sweeping the shop for a familiar face. Must not have seen who ever he was meeting, because he made way directly to the counter without acknowledging anyone. Rin took his order- regular decaf coffee with caramel- and passed it on to Lee. Fearing Ino's wrath (when she's in that kind of mood, you never know what she'll do), I waited until the coffee was ready to go out before stepping in, gently nudging Lee aside with a quick "excuse me" and ignoring his confused looks. No, I wasn't actually going to spit in it. Instead I settled for the less gross option of stirring in two teaspoons of salt before replacing the lid.

"Tenten, what are you doing?" Lee asked.

"Shh." I said, making sure that Shikamaru hadn't heard anything (he was now sitting at a table next to the window, staring outside with a blank look), "it's kind of complicated. Not to mention childish. Just go with it." He watched me go with an expression torn between a curios kind of confusion and apprehension.

I approached Shikamaru's table with what I hoped was an impassive face. "Hey, don't you have some nicer, fancier place to spend your time and money?" I asked, half joking, as I set the cup down in front of him.

"Yeah, but this is just more convenient today. Meetings on this end of town all afternoon, can't spare the time to drive across town much." He shrugged before taking a sip from the cup. His eyebrows shot up and he sputtered and coughed just a little before regaining his composure and glaring up at me.

"From Ino," I shrugged, trying to sound just a little more sympathetic than I was, "she says she's angry about the mess in her apartment, and she wishes you'd take her side jobs a little more seriously, in not quite so many words. I figured you'd prefer the salt to what she actually requested."

"Damn. I was rushing this morning. Knew I was forgetting something." He huffed, "if I pay for another coffee and drop a twenty in the tip jar, can I get one without the sabotage?"

"Sure thing, but just for the record, I'm only the messenger in all of this." I defended myself.

"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled and went back to the register, pulling out his wallet, as I disposed of the ruined coffee and went back to work.

I walked back around the counter to join Lee next to the sink, where he was washing dishes and tools, to grab a wet tea towel to set to work wiping down tables. "So…. Anything new in the job hunt?" I asked him.

"Not yet." He looked crestfallen for just a second, before the hopeful gleam reappeared in his eyes, "but anytime now, I'm sure!" he looked around to make sure no one was close enough to listen, like a kid with a big secret to tell, "I hear the Hyuga's are retiring a few of their senior personnel soon; that means new positions to fill, and I'm sure I have a chance!" he beamed enthusiastically and I laughed. "Well, I wish you all the best, good sir!" I said, giving a mock bow, which he returned, smiling "why thank you, kind flower!" I laughed again before leaving him, wet towel clutched in my right hand.

I'd barely finished cleaning just three tables when a fairly loud clatter sounded at the other end of the room. I looked up in time to see a little girl about four years old, with chocolate now staining the front of her shirt and pants, step away from the previously full cup she had obviously just dropped. _'And that's why parents shouldn't let their small children walk around with chocolate frappes' _I thought to myself exasperatedly, as the girls mother fussed over her daughters clothes and shoes. The kid was whisked away to the bathroom for cleaning and the rooms occupants returned to their business and drinks, leaving me to deal with the mess on the floor. After grabbing two dry towels in addition to my damp one, I slouched over to the spot, dropping unceremoniously to my knees to start the dirty work.

From my spot on the floor I couldn't help but notice that Shikamaru's guest had finally showed up. From my angle I could only see the back of him, but I recognized the long dark hair as Neji Hyuga's trade mark. Hmm, maybe Lee could talk to him about a job? While pondering this thought and wiping up the spilled drink, I couldn't help but notice I could hear their conversation (really, what else was I supposed to concentrate on while crawling around a coffee shop floor with a coffee-sodden towel?). Hyuga seemed to be agitated about something….

"….ashamed of it. I never would have expected…." He was saying, I could visualize him shaking his head, but I forced myself not to look like I was eavesdropping.

"I think you'll find you'll get over your personal feelings soon enough. No one else knows though, right? A one night stand is not exactly something a respectful future CEO wants the world to know." Shikamaru told him. I couldn't help myself perking up at that. One night stand? A Hyuga? How strange…

Neji made a noise of disgust, "must we call it a one night stand? Don't make it sound like an intentional breach of character."

"Right, because a drunken hook up sounds so much more dignified." Shikamaru said sarcastically. I stopped what I was doing. No way. _No way_.

"For the record, I didn't even want to go to the damn party. If Naruto had just let it go…"

"Irrelevant. Do you know who she is?"

"No." I could hear the scowl in his voice. Obviously the thought of sleeping with a stranger bothered him as much as it bothered me, but that really wasn't the important part of this conversation, I reminded myself.

"Does she know who you are?"

"I doubt it. I vaguely recall a significant amount of alcohol being consumed beforehand." Maybe I was just jumping to conclusions. I mean really, _Neji Hyuga_ and _me_? I was pretty sure there was something written against that in the very laws of physics themselves. He probably just had a very unlucky night, at a completely different party, I told myself, idly continuing wiping the floor…. Then again, didn't Sakura and Ino mention that Shikamaru was at the same party we were at last Friday? With friends? I glanced over at the pair, trying with all of my might to discern whether they were more 'friends' or 'acquaintances'.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about." Shikamaru said after a pause. "Granted, there's all sorts of bad potential, seeing as it'll be a blow to your company if the main inheritor can be seen as impulsive and irresponsible" – I think Neji muttered darkly about the stock market here- "but, the company aside, you probably don't want that strain on your reputation regardless. So my advice: forget it happened."

"Just like that?" Neji asked.

"Doing anything would draw attention. Even if it's just a little attention, it won't get you anywhere."

"I need you to understand, Nara, that this means a little more to me than just the company and my personal reputation. As a Hyuga, particularly seeing as I owe so much to the main branch anyway, people expect better-"

"I know, I know. Hyuga, honor, pride, code of conduct, I get it. If you'd like to mention this to your uncle, by all means, go for it, but my opinion as a professional and as a friend is to let it go. People do stuff like this all the time, it's just bad luck that it happened to you."

Neji huffed in response.

"Anyway, there's no way you can be linked to any of this, is there? Didn't leave your card on her night stand or anything?"

It sounded like Neji was about to raise the defenses that he'd never do anything of the sort, even drunk or hung over, but he caught himself and seemed to choke on the words he didn't want to say. "I left my jacket." He finally said bitterly. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped.

"Huh. Well, good thing you've outgrown the need to write your name on the tags, right?" I think he might have been joking, and had I been able to breathe I might have even found the sarcastic question mildly amusing, but as it was, I could almost feel my life crashing down around me.

"Would you at least pretend to take this seriously, Nara?" Neji snarled.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, just trying to lighten the mood. Forget about the jacket, too. There's no sure way of knowing it's yours, just don't expect to ever get it back."

"That was a six thousand dollar leather jacket." He replied indignantly.

"That you bought on _sale._" Shikamaru retorted.

I didn't stick around to hear the rest of the argument. Forcing my joints to unlock, I turned on the spot and purposefully took the long way around the shop and ducked behind the counter to make it into the back room with out being seen (I wasn't at all willing to take the chance that Neji wouldn't recognize me if he saw me).

I paced the length of the room over and over again, switching between pressing the heals of my hands into my eye sockets until I saw stars and running my fingers through my hair until it was tussled and uneven, trying to reassure myself that this was not a big deal. Problem was, I had started to come to terms with my little "adventure" before now, but now that that "adventure" had a name and a face (a multimillion dollar name and face, at that) it suddenly seemed that much more real.

"Ok, ok, ok" I told myself, "This is not a big deal. Really. I mean, it could be worse, right? I came out of this healthy and alive, which is good. And like Shikamaru said, this stuff happens to people all the time, no problem. It's going to be alright, _I _am going to be alright. No harm done…."

I groaned loudly into my palms "except that I _slept_ with Neji fucking _Hyuga_! What the hell was I doing?"

I peered out the small window on the door into the front room. I could just barely see Neji and Shikamaru, both of them had just stood up and seemed to be leaving. That was good. I'd be able to think better once he was back in the other side – '_the rich side'_ I thought scathingly- of town.

'_Shit, what do I do?'_ I thought. _'Should I just follow the advice Shikamaru gave Neji and just never mention this again? But I'd have to tell Ino and Sakura… and what if Ino accidentally let slip to Shikamaru? Would he tell Neji I know? What would happen then? God, why did I just have to be such a whore?' _I kicked a bucket with a mop standing in it almost as hard as I could against the wall. The plastic splintered under my foot, and broke apart into varying sized pieces against the wall while the mop fell sideways on me, only making my mood worse. It was either the noise of the bucket and mop or my loud curse that followed it that brought Lee peering hesitantly into the room.

"This is probably considered a dumb question, but are you ok, Tenten?" he asked.

"No." I barked, biting my tongue so as to not take any of this out on him.

"I see… You wanna talk about it?" he continued slowly.

I almost went off on a long winded rant about my own stupidity, alcohol, and 101 new reasons to hate Neji Hyuga, but I stopped myself. "Really, I just want to break more stuff." I answered truthfully.

"Right. Well in that case, I just want to remind you that as a student with loans and bills to pay, your place of work might not be the best place to do that."

I huffed and looked at the clock hung on the wall. I still had almost another hour left of my shift, but words really could not describe how much I dreaded staying there for another five minutes, let alone an entire hour. As if reading my thoughts (like he's so good at doing) Lee spoke up again, "why don't you head home early? Rin and I can take care of the rest alone."

God, I could have cried. Whatever I could have done to deserve a person like Lee in my life was a mystery that easily made the list of candidates for the eighth wonder of the world, and I was all too happy to take him up on it. I threw off the apron and threw my arms around his neck in one fluid motion, spouting thanks and praise I'd never meant more. I grabbed my phone and keys from my shelf and all but ran from the room, trying to keep my composure as I crossed the shop and hurried home. Right then I wanted nothing more than a nice long, gloriously hot bath. I'd even splurge on the scented bath salt and bubbles I'd been saving for special occasions such as this, when I just needed to melt away all the cares in the world.

~!-X-!~

I spent the remainder of the afternoon wallowing in my self-pity, refilling the bathwater twice when it got cold. When the clock on the wall hit 7:30 I decided that I'd better get out of the tub before my skin shriveled up beyond the point of return. I pulled my clothes from earlier back on and called Sakura, hitting a button in order to jump strait to voicemail, rather than let it ring. My message was pretty simple: "I have news you guys would be interested to hear. Meet me for ice-cream in forty five minutes? The good ice-cream place, by the hospital."

I hopped a bus across the street from the apartment complex twenty minutes later, and twenty minutes after that I sat in the back of my favorite ice-cream parlor waiting for Sakura and Ino with the biggest cup of chocolate swirl ice-cream with brownie pieces, hot fudge syrup, and whipped cream that the guy at the register would sell me. They walked in only a few minutes later, and made a beeline for my table.

"Christ, you gonna share some of that?" Ino asked, eyeing the colossal mound of chocolate in front of me.

"Nope." I replied, taking another bite.

"Uh-oh." She dropped her purse and keys in one of the chairs across from me and went to order something grab a few napkins from the counter that she knew I'd need.

I gestured to the keys Ino had left, which now that I looked, were different, "Those aren't Ino's keys, are they?"

"Shikamaru's. Remember, she got access to his car while he was staying with us?" Sakura answered.

"Ah." I took another bite of ice-cream, watching the tower of whipped cream slip sideways a bit.

I paused, on the pretense of making sure my melting ice-cream didn't overflow from the cup, before uttering quietly, "Neji Hyuga."

They both looked at me confused, not seeing the significance. "What about him?" Sakura asked. I looked at her slightly exasperated. I could see when it clicked in both of their minds.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked quickly. I nodded.

"That's who he met today at the coffee shop." I nodded to Ino, "wanted to see what a one night stand did to his candidacy for business man of the year." I said bitterly, stabbing my ice cream with the spoon.

"You didn't say anything, did you?" Ino asked

"Of course I didn't say anything." I rolled my eyes, "What would I say? 'Thanks for the good time, sorry about selling your jacket'?"

"Ok, ok," Sakura intervened, "But this doesn't really change much, does it? I mean, I think we've pretty much established that what's happened, happened, and there's no way to take it back. No major harm done, right?"

"Except that I slept with Neji Hyuga, Sakura!" I groaned. "I'm such a ho. And not just any ho, a _gold digging_ ho."

"Oh Tenten, you're over reacting." Sakura said.

"Yeah, it's not like you screwed him because he was rich, you screwed him because he was hot. The unrelated fact that he's rich does not make you a gold-digger." Ino assured me.

"Yeah, explain that one to the masses." I muttered, eating some more.

" 'The masses' don't need to have anything explained. No one knows about this, Tenten. Neji doesn't even know your name, we're the only three people that actually know what happened with you two, I promise, your life isn't ruined." Sakura said. I knew she was right, but it didn't all together make me feel much better. I still couldn't believe that of all the people I could have hooked up with, it _had_ to him.

"What was someone like him even doing at that party? It wasn't exactly the type of place you'd expect to see the Hyuga prodigy." Sakura asked curiously.

Ino shrugged, "Probably there with Shikamaru and them."

"Yeah, he mentioned that he 'didn't want to go, but Naruto wouldn't let it go.'"

"Sounds like Naruto." Sakura said, a slight reminiscent smile gracing her features. "But anyway, are you ok now, Tenten?"

I nodded, "I will be, by the time I finish this." I gestured to the ice-cream I'd made a sizeable dent in, but still had a ways to go.

"Well, what kind of friends would we be if we didn't speed up the process?" Ino asked, steeling a spoonful (she'd apparently grabbed a spoon for herself while at the counter) quicker than I could stop her.

"Hey, brat!" she stuck her tongue out and reached for more, while Sakura watched in amusement. We kept up the friendly banter until my cup was empty (thanks, in large part, to Ino) and by the time we left I felt significantly better about the whole situation. We climbed happily into Shikamaru's car, Ino revving the engine with an exclamation of "Man, I have _got_ to get me one of these!" and after an hour of pointless joy riding (and one race through down town that Ino just couldn't resist) we went back to our separate apartments for the night.

~!X!~end~!X!~

This one's shorter than the others, but if it makes you feel any better, I have big plans for the next one, so keep your fingers crossed that this wave of motivation keeps me going long enough to get some more chapters out.  
Thanks to those special readers who cared enough to come back to this fic after such a long break!


	5. Our plan

Thursday was all sorts of chaotic, the highlights being the test I totally forgot to study for in class, and a small fire starting at work when Kiba accidentally left a paper napkin on a coffee burner. Luckily, I think I scraped a passing grade on the test, and the fire was put out after only damaging the one machine, which we didn't really use as much as the others, anyway. After a long day of very little going right, I fell into bed that night glad it was over.

Friday I had no classes, but that didn't mean I could sleep in. I worked six in the morning until noon, or later if I wanted extra pay. I left the coffee shop at one to catch a bus to Sakura and Ino's, because I'd promised Ino I'd help clean their apartment today since Sakura was going to be at the hospital until later in the evening. For hours we scrubbed every flat surface in the place, organized the cupboard space, even moved around some of the furniture for a change. I admit, it was pretty fun, even when Shikamaru came back at 4:00 to find that Ino had followed through with her promise of dropping any lose item of his that wasn't safely in his duffle bag off of the second story balcony. He even helped out with the cleaning, after retrieving one of his shoes, some socks, a shirt, and his ipod from the bushes next to the building.

At 5:00 a loud, persistent knocking sounded from the front door. Eager to take a break from helping Ino clean out the refrigerator, I bounded over to answer it. The cheerful greeting I had prepared evaporated from my mind and face as soon as I opened the door, and there stood Neji Hyuga, in all his glory. Almost a head taller than me, and angry about something, he looked quite intimidating, but was made a little less so by the fact that he was quite as shocked to see me here as I was to see him. He got over it pretty quickly though, narrowing his grey eyes at me, he uttered a low and deadly "You." that almost made me shiver to be addressed as such.

But with his change of mood, came mine, and I was _not _going to let him talk to me like I'd done him some great personal wrong when he was still at least partially to blame for our encounter. "Can I help you?" I asked, my tone echoing every ounce of rudeness that his had.

"No, I'm here for Shikamaru, you've done quite enough." He spat.

"_Excuse me? _Takes two to tango, Love, you're just as much to blame as I am." I told him, resisting the urge to jab my finger into his chest as I spoke.

"True, but then again, I'm not the one giving interviews about this little fiasco, am I?" he waved a magazine I hadn't noticed he was holding in front of my nose and I snatched it from him, glaring.

"What are you….?" I broke off before the question finished. He had folded the magazine open to a certain page, showing, clear as day, a picture of him and I at the party from last week, closer than I ever remember us being, but thankfully showing nothing more incriminating than the bottles in both of our hands. A line beneath a title boasting a 'lustful night between opposite worlds' advertised a short but exclusive interview by yours truly all about what led me to take him home with me. I stared in disbelief and backed into the room as I started to read the article.

As I sank slowly into the couch, Shikamaru came out of the bathroom, clutching a damp and dirty rag and spray bottle, "Ino, I cleaned the bathroom floor and counter, but I didn't organize the cabinet because frankly, most of the stuff in there scares me.. Neji?" he looked up and spotted the Hyuga standing in the door way.

There was a little crash from the kitchen and seconds later, Ino appeared, looking once from Neji to me, apparently at a loss. Then she spotted the magazine I was holding and sat on the couch next to me to read what it was. I didn't look up to see her face, but I could only imagine. Most of the article wasn't really solid fact about anything, but the speculations were written in just the way to sound worse.

The words I remembered saying Tuesday night over the phone floated throughout the article, albeit completely out of context. My knuckles turned white as I clutched the magazine tighter as I read on, about how I first thought Neji was "Definitely hotter than most, with out even trying to be," how we had decided not to make things long term because "becoming heir to a company like that takes a lot of time, which can't be sacrificed for much else," how I secretly confided in the reporter that I though "he's got more money than he's got places to spend it…it wouldn't hurt him to share some with the rest of us," (in parenthesis the writer had clarified that he was actually making around $500,000 a year, which was significantly higher than what I'd guessed) and finally, the thought that actually made me agree to leave that party with him was "He is attractive enough, and if no one would know, it might prove to be worth it."

In the background I could vaguely here Neji and Shikamaru talking, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. I reread the article, trying to see it from a different point of view, looking for some small angle that made the whole thing seem better, but I couldn't find it. All at once the magazine article and the rest of the world seemed to join as one, and I could hear and see the world around me, now including the fact that this was out in the open.

"Son of a bitch!" I said loudly, throwing down the magazine on the coffee table in front of me. On my left, Ino jumped.

"You think?" Neji glared at me around Shikamaru.

I glared back at him, "don't look at me like this is all my fault, she didn't tell me that's what she was writing!" I gestured angrily to the magazine, where the name May Sasaki was neatly printed beneath the title and caption.

"But you didn't think to clarify or check, did you?"

"I don't see why you think you've got the shit end of the stick here, Hyuga, it's not like you're the one smeared across the page as a whore!" I said, trying (didn't quite succeed) not to yell.

"I've got a company coming under my name in the next ten years, and expectations to uphold–"

I cut him off, "Right, you've got a company and expectations, but in a month you'll have this smoothed over and no one will care. I, on the other hand, have jack shit, and now I'll be working at that damn coffee shop for the rest of my life because all any respectable employer has to do is google my name to find this mess, so I can just kiss my hopes and dreams good-bye, but you'll at least still have your name and everything that comes with it, asshole!"

Neji opened his mouth to retort again, but Shikamaru stepped in, hands raised to signal us to slow down, "Stop, stop, stop, I think we can salvage the situation" – "Really? Cause it looks like a dead end to me." I interrupted, but he kept going –" but you're not going to like it. Either of you." He paused, watching our reactions wearily, "You'll need to pretend to be a couple for a little while."

"What?" Neji asked, and for the first time today I felt like we were on the same page.

"Listen, it's easier to recover from a secret relationship than a secret one night stand. If you can convince everyone you were actually together all this time, then it'll be like sex was well within your rights and you didn't do anything to be ashamed of." Shikamaru clarified. It made sense, but still. I wasn't sure if clearing my name was worth pulling off such an act, and I could see Neji contemplating the same thing.

"What will I tell Hiashi?" Neji finally asked Shikamaru. His voice had come down a couple notches and his tone was a lot more civil.

"You're sorry it came out like this but you were afraid he'd disapprove." Shikamaru shrugged. "Really, I think he'd be glad to hear that, as opposed to _that_." He gestured to the magazine on the coffee table.

Neji seemed to agree, and I had to admit, so did I. I hated the idea of acting this out, but I wanted everything sorted out. If we pulled it off, and played the part of happy couple well enough, than in a few weeks time we could call it quits and pretend it's a normal couple break up. I met Neji's eye across the room and could tell we both thought the same thing. "How do we start?" I asked.

"You need to make a phone call." Shikamaru told Neji. "Call the publisher, act angry and insulted, and insist that they had no right to publish this sort of slander about your relationship. Maybe throw something in about the reporter not telling Tenten what the questions were for. Yell and make threats if you have to, just get him to agree to run another story about you guys dating to make this right." Neji nodded and excused himself onto the balcony to make the call, sliding the glass door shut, and after a moment, Shikamaru followed after him, mumbling about making sure he said the right things.

When he was gone, Ino spoke for the first time next to me, "you know, on the bright side, you could probably send this picture to the beer company and sell it as advertisement. Looks like a regular commercial…" I chuckled, agreeing that now that I looked, I could kind of see it.

We talked for a few minutes about how bizarre things had gotten in just a week, and joked about how I'd never be able to touch a bottle of beer again by the time all of this was done. After the last ten minutes it was a relief to be able to talk with a friend without people around, but soon enough the guys walked back in.

"Hey, get dressed, we're going to dinner." Shikamaru told us.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Someone's going to meet us outside the restaurant to 'get the story strait'. If you can sit through that tonight, the new story will be online by midnight and repeated in next week's issue." He explained. Beside him, Neji looked about as uncomfortable with the idea as I felt, but didn't say anything.

"Okay… where are we going?" I wanted to get an idea of just what to expect.

"Well, I did promise Ino a trip to Château Annue…" he looked just a little sour, but Ino, who perked up immediately, didn't seem to notice.

"Oooh! I've always wanted to eat there!" she hopped off the couch and pulled me up with her, "we'll be ready in a half hour." She said, pulling me off towards her room.

Now, I had few articles of clothing fit for the fanciest restaurant in two counties, none of which were here, so I was very curios to find out what Ino planned to dress me in for the evening. I reminded her to keep in mind that she was a bit curvier than I was, but she brushed me off, and continued searching her closet. From the very end of the rack she pulled out a long garment bag and shoved it toward me. "Here. I bought it over a year ago, so it probably doesn't even fit me right anymore, so give it a try." She dived back into the closet as I sighed and began stripping off my clothes.

All in all, I had to say I was pretty impressed with the dress. It was black, with spaghetti strap sleeves, longer in back than in front, the ruffled edges almost forming a slit in the front at the middle of my left thigh. Unfortunately, it was a little big in the chest, as I knew it probably would be, but Ino pulled off a quick fix with a small safety pin. A light layer of makeup, borrowed black feathered earrings, and my own pair of black pumps and I was done.

Ino opted for a tight sleeveless dark purple gown, with an almost open back, if not for the thin strings crossing delicately over her flesh, floor length with a high slit, the top of which was held together by more thin string, loosely laced to add a bit of sexy detail. She slipped on a pair of strappy black sandals from Sakura's closet and pulled her hair into a neat bun, and pronounced us both ready.

We returned to the front room to find the guys on the couch watching a game on TV. It looked like Shikamaru had put on a nicer shirt over the black slacks he'd been wearing all day, and Neji was wearing the same white collared shirt and black slacks he'd shown up in, which didn't surprise me.

"So?" Ino asked, gesturing to me and signaling to turn on the spot, which I did, rolling my eyes, "good enough to be seen out in public with Neji Hyuga?" there was a hint of smugness in her voice that didn't go unnoticed.

Neji grunted. "It'll do."

"Gee, thanks." I said, not quite as scathingly as I felt I should have.

We exited the apartment in a group, then Ino and I stayed a couple paces behind the other two as we made our way down the hall. "Are we taking separate cars?" I asked her, though not really expecting her to know. It was Neji that answered me from up ahead, "I'll drive. My car's big enough for all of us." That was a relief, for a minute there I was kind of afraid I'd have to spend god knows how long alone in the car with Neji.

Neji drove a small black four-door luxury car parked haphazardly at a curb in a non designated parking spot. We all fit in fairly comfortably, Neji in the driver's seat, myself riding shotgun (I wanted the back seat, but Ino pushed me up here before I could even open the door) and Ino and Shikamaru in back. Before I could fully appreciate all the nice little details of the interior, Neji pulled against the curb to a tall building in the middle of town. I could see a dumpy looking man in a cheap suit standing alone a little ways away from the doors, and assumed he was there waiting for us. As Neji killed the engine and he and Shikamaru got out of the car I reached for the door handle, but Ino reached around the seat to stop me, "Wait, not yet." She told me, tracing Neji's progress around the car with her eyes.

"Are you enjoying this?" I asked her incredulously, as her door opened and Shikamaru offered her his hand.

She grinned at me, "Smile." She said, nodding to the reporter, as she stepped out. I sighed and resisted the temptation to roll my eyes as I followed her lead and accepted Neji's outstretched hand and stepped out, taking her advice and smiling up at him as I did so to begin the act. As we started toward where the reporter stood, Shikamaru cleared his throat behind Neji and I, and when we looked back, made a show of putting his arm around Ino's waist. Neji mimicked the action, huffing slightly, and we continued on.

"Mr. Hyuga. Miss. My name is Ryu Takeda" The reporter greeted, extending his hand to Neji and nodding quickly to me. Neji grasped his hand briefly, and introduced Shikamaru (who also shook the man's hand) and Ino (who smiled).

"Mr. Hyuga, first I'd just like to apologize, on behalf of our entire staff, how very sorry we are for the misconception that was printed in this week's issue, but I can personally assure you that every possible step to fix it will be taken immediately." I noticed Mr. Takeda looked kind of nervous and twitchy up close, and I kind of wondered what exactly Neji had said during that phone call a while ago.

"I would expect nothing less." Neji told him, a hint of iciness making its way into the statement.

"Right," the man looked noticeably twitchier at Neji's tone, but tried to hide it by swinging his fists back and forth, " right, well I know you are on your way to dinner, but if I could trouble you for just a few minutes of your time in the lobby…"

"Our reservation is for seven. I hope you can ask your questions by then?" Neji said, not really asking a question so much as setting down the time limit. That gave us just over twenty five minutes.

"Oh yes, yes, not a problem at all." It was a problem. I could see it in his small watery eyes that he expected more time, but didn't dare ask for it. "Well, shall we go?" he asked, holding the door open for us.

We entered in pairs, the Mr. Takeda trailing behind Shikamaru and Ino. The room was large and grandeur, almost every surface gave a reflection, and I'm sure that if I was given the time to look at all, I wouldn't find a single speck of dust or dirt anywhere. It didn't look like the entire first floor was meant for anything other than an attractive place to meet people, and I couldn't stop myself trying to look around some more, but at the same time, didn't want to seem like I was so unused to the atmosphere. I let Neji steer me to set of posh leather chairs and couches arranged around an attractive coffee table in the corner, and sat down where he guided me. Ino and Shikamaru occupied an adjacent loveseat, leaving the Mr. Takeda to take a swiveling armchair across the table.

"So, let's get started, shall we?" Mr. Takeda pulled out a little note pad and pen from an inside jacket pocket with a nervous glance at his watch and an even more nervous glance around at us. "So," he cleared his throat, "the basics, I think, how long have you been together?"

I let Neji answer most of the questions, assuming that Shikamaru had built some kind of basic outline to follow that I hadn't been told. That seemed to be the case, as Neji could rattle off answers with hardly any time to think them through. We'd been seeing each other almost three months now, but only recently started getting more serious. We met at a mutual friends birthday party, and didn't flaunt the relationship because (like I told May Sasaki) Neji was focusing a lot of time and effort on his career, which of course, I didn't mind in the least because I still had school and work myself. We didn't know what would happen long term, but for now we were happy.

He asked some questions about me, too: How old was I? Where did I work? What was I studding in school? Was I nervous, at first, about starting a relationship with an up and coming CEO? My answers were pretty straightforward, I was twenty two, working part time in a coffee shop near home, studying history (war and conflict, more specifically), and I was a little scared at first, but I was so glad I decided to give it a shot.

Throughout the questioning, whenever Mr. Takeda was focusing on writing something down, occasionally Shikamaru or Ino would inconspicuously cough or clear their throat to get our attention, then mime couple-y postures and movements, which we'd mirror, to the best of our ability without making it too awkward for each other.

With only five minutes left of his allotted time, the reporter asked a few very basic background questions about us from Shikamaru and Ino: were we together very often among friends? Whenever we could find the time around our own schedules. When did they find out we were together? We told them just over a month ago, when we started getting serious. Were they surprised to hear it? Ino was totally surprised, but Shikamaru had a feeling that something was up.

The second Neji's watch hit seven he stood up, "Well, Mr. Takeda, I hope that will suffice." He said, offering a hand to help me stand as well. Off to our right Ino and Shikamaru had already left their couch and were standing behind Mr. Takeda.

"Oh-oh yes," he stuttered, apparently caught by surprise by the abrupt ending, "Yes, this is plenty, I'm sure." But as Neji started to lead me away, he spoke again quickly and still more nervously, "Mr. Hyuga, if I could trouble you for just a few seconds more…" He extracted a small digital camera from within his coat, "perhaps a photo? To go with the article?"

I think Neji must have looked over Takeda's shoulder at Shikamaru, who was nodding vigorously out of sight. Neji looked back at Mr. Takeda, who looked hopeful, and nodded once, "quickly, if one will do."

"Of course, of course, won't take a minute." Mr. Takeda stumbled with the camera settings, behind him, Ino and Shikamaru moved together in the pose that we were obviously supposed to follow. By the time Mr. Takeda looked up we managed it, we were facing each other (and considerably closer than I really wanted to be), his hands on my hips, mine lightly on his chest. I tried to smile like I was actually in love, but I'm pretty sure I just looked embarrassed, and I didn't even want to know what Neji looked like, because I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't smile at a camera even if he _was_ head over heals.

As the camera clicked Ino shot me a thumbs up, meaning I looked the part, I guess, and Shikamaru was still trying to exaggerate a smile to Neji, but gave up and rolled his eyes when the picture was taken. Mr. Takeda moved as if to put the camera back in his pocket, but glanced at Neji and thought against it for the moment, and instead held it out to him, "Is this ok?" he asked, obviously afraid of putting anything else in print that might irritate Neji more.

Neji looked as though he didn't really care, but took the camera anyway just to look thorough. Thanks to the heals I was wearing, I could also look at the little screen without too much effort, and I had to say, the picture looked pretty good. Even without the smile Shikamaru was aiming for, Neji looked dignified and even a little bit relaxed, and I had managed a small shy smile through the light hint of red on my cheeks that looked fairly convincing, all things considered.

"Fine." Neji told him, handing back the camera. I nodded my approval as well, just for show, and Mr. Takeda looked relieved.

"Excellent, excellent." He stowed the camera safely back in his pocket with the notepad, "In that case, I apologize for keeping you all from your meal, have a wonderful evening." He himself looked thrilled to once more shake Neji's hand and bid us all farewell as he headed back for the front doors and we went instead to the elevator.

Neji and I held hands until the metal doors slid shut, at which time I slid mine from him and slumped against the wall. "God, that was exhausting. And I look like some blushing school girl in that picture…"

"Tenten, blushing school girl is a few steps up from whorish party girl." Ino reminded me, leaning to my right.

"You think he bought it?" Neji asked Shikamaru.

"Looked like it. Hopefully, whether he bought it or not, he'll put together a suitable article." The doors dinged open and Ino and I followed the guys forward down a short hallway lined with chairs to a small podium at the entrance to the main room. The man at the podium greeted Neji and Shikamaru (who had probably both been there a fair amount of times, I thought) and led us through the room to our table. Next to me, Ino's excitement rolled off of her in waves as we both studied the room. It as well lit, but gave the illusion of darkness by all the dark brown or black furniture and dark red table clothes.

The usher stopped at a small circular table in one of the far corners of the room, carefully placing menus and silverware in all the spaces and wishing us a pleasant meal. I sat next to Ino and (to my slight disdain) Neji. We let the guys decide on a bottle of wine (I didn't know how to pronounce most of them, let alone know what they were), and kept up a polite flow of conversation (well, mostly Ino and I just talked about the menu, many of the items on which we weren't sure about) until we ordered, then passed the remaining time examining the details of such a high class place while Neji and Shikamaru started their own conversation.

We'd almost finished eating when Ino's cell phone rang from Shikamaru's pocket. "Oh, that'll be Sakura. She should be home soon." Shikamaru handed her the phone which she answered, oblivious to the few people staring from other tables. Sakura's voice was barely audible on the other end of the line asking Ino where she was.

Ino gave a light laugh, "It is actually a long, funny story, that I just can't do justice to over the phone. Would you mind taking my car to Tentens and we'll see you there in thirty minutes, tops?" I could hear Sakura reluctantly agree. "Fantastic, we'll see you then." She hung up and gave the phone back to Shikamaru for safe keeping.

"Exactly how many people are you planning to tell about all of this?" Neji asked me suspiciously.

"Relax." I told him, "Only a few people that deserve to know and can be trusted with the truth. I promise I won't unintentionally smear either of our names anymore."

He didn't seem entirely convinced, but didn't push the issue, just continued his conversation with Shikamaru while Ino and I resumed trying to guess the price of various art works around the room.

We left twenty minutes later, Neji and Shikamaru split the bill, which frankly, I was afraid to look at, and we piled back into Neji's car. Ino told him to just drop the two of us at my place, and Shikamaru was welcome to go back to hers so long as he didn't make a mess of the place. Neji grumbled a little about being treated like a chauffeur.

"Well that's what you get for offering to drive." I told him simply.

"In that case, next time, you can do it." He replied.

"Sure thing." I grinned, "problem is, I don't have a car, so I'll have to borrow yours, m'kay?"

"Oh, I don't think so." He shook his head, but I saw the tiniest hint of a remotely playful smirk there.

"Huh. Looks like the job is all yours then." I said smugly.

"Goody." He muttered, pulling into the parking lot of my building.

"Aw, you remembered the place. How sweet." I gushed, slightly surprised.

"Haha," he said sarcastically, "don't take it personally."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Darling." I added the last part as a joke and he glared at me as I got out of the car with Ino.

We said our goodbye's as Shikamaru took my spot in the passenger seat and Neji sped away, leaving us at the door to the building.

~!X!~end~!X!~

I'll leave it here for now cause I have stuff to do, and I've been sitting at my desk for the last 2 days in order to entertain you people. Hope you enjoyed this one, it came out a little different then what I had pictured in my mind; as a started writing this chapter I realized I don't remember Neji's attitude as well as the others, so it'll take some getting used to. I don't know when the next one will be up, but I doubt I'll be able to keep up the standard of two chapters in two days. Remember, reviews keep me going.


	6. becoming 'that' kind of girlfriend

Notes:

-I wasn't feeling very creative when I needed a surname for Tenten, so I googled it, and got 'Hisagia'. Don't know where it came from, I just needed something to fill in the blank, so don't dwell on it too much.

- I'm trying to rediscover Neji's personality. I admit, it's been a while since I've watched the series, and I haven't seen him in the manga for a while, so excuse me as I try to remember what he's like. He seemed too angry and uptight last chapter, so I tried making him more relaxed in this one. Let me know if I'm horribly off.

And without further ado, here's chapter 6~

~!X!~begin~!X!~

Ino and I went upstairs to find Sakura waiting up on my couch, some late night drama playing on the TV. We explained what had happened and the plan to fix it as we got undressed and put on clothes more comfortable to sleep in.

"So that's it, then?" Sakura asked by the time we finished recounting the evening, "You guys just pretend to date for a few weeks and then tell people you broke up, and everything's fine?"

"Yup. Seems pretty simple, huh?" I said, flopping backwards onto my bed.

"Seems really simple. But then again, why even carry on the act for so long? Couldn't you technically "break up" as soon as next week's magazine comes out, justifying the fact that you guys went home together?" she asked.

I shrugged, "Mainly for Neji's sake, I think…" I looked at Ino for help, and she continued, "Shikamaru mentioned that Neji would want to clear any doubt about them being together, before they called it quits. The man's got a paranoid streak three miles long." She rolled her eyes as Sakura and I sniggered.

We chatted and laughed a bit about what my plans were while "dating" for another half hour, when we broke off because Ino received a text from Shikamaru stating that our new and improved article had been posted online already. I looked at the clock, which read just past 11:00. "Wow, in just four hours? That was fast…"

"Yeah, guess you can get a lot done in a short amount of time after an angry call from a rich guy." Ino looked impressed, joining me on the bed, fishing my laptop from under the bed and setting it up.

"What do you think Neji said to him, anyway?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Scary things, to be sure." Ino replied. She typed in the web address Shikamaru sent her and waited impatiently for the page to load.

Finally, there was the picture of Neji and I ("Aww, look how cute you guys look." Sakura grinned), and a good three and a half paragraphs written under the title 'The Whole Secret'. A subheading in small slanted letters read: "in response to allegations made in this week's Behind the Business magazine about Hyuga corp.'s soon to be owner, Neji Hyuga, and a Miss. Tenten Hisagia, we've made the effort to fill in the blanks and perhaps shed a new light on what was, initially, nothing more than unflattering guess work on our part." It was followed by a link to the original article.

The rest of the article was basically just a glorified version of all that we'd told Mr. Takeda hours before, with little bits and pieces thrown in about how nice we looked together and other miscellaneous stuff. Over all, it got the point we wanted to make across, rounding out nicely wishing us luck and happiness together.

"And so begins the romance nobody saw coming." Ino stated dramatically, closing the laptop.

"God have mercy on our souls." Sakura said in the same tone.

I rolled my eyes, "You guys are so weird." I told them.

Sakura stuck her tongue at me, and Ino said "and yet you spend your free time with us."

"Not for long, though." Sakura said, looking crestfallen, "Now she's got to spend it with _Neji Hyuga_."

"Yeah, she won't even remember us, now that she's got a super hot _boyfriend_." Ino continued.

I threw a pillow at both of them, and we all laughed.

~!X!~

The next morning Ino woke me up a bit before eight to ask where her purple shirt with the flower embroidering was, and I could hear the hair drier on in the bathroom, meaning Sakura was up as well. I grumbled a bit, but managed to roll out of bed to help find the shirt just in time to say goodbye to Sakura, who was catching a bus to her morning shift at the hospital. Ino and I argued and bickered a bit as usual while she finished getting dressed and ready for her day at the cosmetology school a few miles away.

I was alone in my apartment by 9:00, and wiled away some time making coffee and scrambled eggs, then hopped in the shower and began the daily search for clothes to wear. At ten after twelve O'clock, my phone rang from the kitchen table. I unplugged the charger as Kiba's face stared up at me from the screen.

"Good morning, Kiba." I greeted.

"Hey, get over here." He said bluntly.

"Why, did you start another fire?" I asked sarcastically.

"Haha, you're _so_ funny I almost forgot to laugh. Seriously though, come here, we gotta talk."

"Kiba, we _are _talking." I told him slowly, just for the sake of being a brat.

"I'll see you in twenty?" he asked impatiently, ignoring my jibe.

"Alright, alright. See you in twenty." I agreed, and we hung up.

I left the apartment 5 minutes later and set out on the 15 minute walk to work. When I walked in, Kiba and Lee waved me over from one of the side tables (seeing as technically our shift didn't start for another half hour, there was no pressure to get up and work just yet). I'd barely sat down before Kiba started, "So. You and a Hyuga?" he grinned mischievously.

I eyed them both suspiciously, "Okay, what have you read?"

With only slightly sheepish looks, both of them pulled out separate pieces of paper: Lee, the original page from yesterdays Behind the Business magazine, and Kiba, a printed out form of the new article from last night.

I sighed, but was prepared to tell the whole tale. "Okay, remember I went to that party last Friday?" They both nodded, and I pointed at the torn out page in front of Lee, "That part's true, except the bit about me sounding like a whore." Kiba didn't bother trying to stifle a laugh at my expense, Lee, who already knew most of the story up to that point, waited for me to go on. "Thing is, I didn't know exactly _who _it was at first. Just so happened that Neji Hyuga met with a mutual acquaintance here, of all places, on Wednesday, and I put two and two together."

"Oh, is that why you were so upset?" Lee interjected, and I nodded.

"By Thursday I was pretty much over it again, since he didn't even know my name, and I was the only person that really knew who did what with who, plus Sakura and Ino, once I told them. Yesterday, however, a furious Neji shows up on Ino's doorstep, where Shikamaru Nara's been staying, while I just happened to be there, brandishing _this_"- I gestured again to the article – "and looking for a way to save his precious name and reputation, at which, Shikamaru has the brilliant idea that the best way to declare me _not_ a whore, and Neji _not _an irresponsible heir to a company was to pretend that we were actually couple the whole time, so sex seems a little less scandalous."

"So that's where this comes from?" Kiba asked, tapping his finger on the printed article.

"Exactly. Neji made an angry call to the Behind the Business publisher, and an hour and a half later we're dishing out all the details of this totally fake romance to this poor nervous wreck of a reporter, who polished everything that we said into this in a matter of hours." I finished.

"Hm, you know, I was kind of hoping for a more exciting story, to be honest." Kiba said, leaning back in his chair.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, next time I'll add in a bit about a heroic battle against a dragon, just for you." I rolled my eyes. "If it makes you feel any better, I sold his six thousand dollar designer jacket on ebay, which I'm in no hurry to tell him, and I have to explain all of this to his cousin tonight over Chinese food."

"_That's _better." He grinned at me.

"So how long will you be 'together'?" Lee asked.

I shrugged, "Until Neji decides he's in the clear, I guess. I mean, technically, I'm good, now that this new article is out… Speaking of, how did you come across this?" I asked Kiba. It didn't exactly seem like something he'd go looking for.

He exchanged a look with Lee, "Well, I could tell you I looked it up after Lee showed me the first one… but I'd be lying." He said.

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow, "In that case, I'd be very interested to know the truth."

"Someone you don't know may have emailed it to me." He said, shrugging.

"What? But not that many people were supposed to pay attention to this stuff..." I said, confused.

"Ordinarily, people wouldn't," Lee said, "It's just because a lot of people around here are at least a little familiar with Neji, and some of those people probably know of you from around school and stuff, so when a few people saw two familiar names were put together in an unlikely scenario in an online article, they just saw the need to spread the word."

"Well, that's rude." I said, kind of at a loss for what else to say.

"It is, but I'm sure it'll blow over. Just because people have seen this, doesn't mean they'll give you a hard time about it." Lee assured me, and I took his word for it. Besides, if people were going to talk, I'd prefer they talked about Neji and I dating, rather than what may or may not have happened last Friday."

By this time, it was officially time to start work, so we relieved the other staff members from their jobs and took over. It was a fairly quiet day; three times people I sort of knew from school asked me about one or both of the articles, and I was able to brush them off with fairly simple answers under the pretense of being incredibly busy.

~!X!~

Finally, seven o'clock rolled around and I was able to pack up and leave, setting off on the twenty minute walk to our favorite Chinese place. When I went in, I found Hinata sitting alone in the waiting area, and a quick look around revealed that Sakura and Ino hadn't arrived yet.

"Hey there!" I greeted, "been waiting long?"

"Oh, no, just a few minutes, but I was early anyway." She said shyly.

We exchanged idle pleasantries as we were lead to a table (in front, so we could wave down Ino and Sakura when they came in), but as soon as the waiter left with our drink order, I wanted to clear the air. "Listen, Hinata, you've probably already seen -"

"Oh don't worry, Tenten, I wasn't going to ask…"

"Really?" I asked, taken back, "You're not even remotely curious?"

"Well, actually… I asked Neji about it this afternoon, and he told me…" she looked embarrassed, and to be honest so was I. I wanted to ask if he'd told her _everything_, but didn't want to reveal the whole plot if he hadn't (after all, the whole point of the act _was_ to convince his family), thankfully, she seemed to understand my unspoken question and continued, "I mean, I know the whole story, but asked me not to spread the real details."

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh that makes things so much easier." She smiled at me in a reassuring way, and we talked freely for another ten minutes until Sakura and Ino joined us.

After clarifying that Hinata was in on the whole thing, Ino shared with me that there had been talk of Neji and I amongst some of the people at the cosmetology school. I tried to remember what Lee said today about not being a big deal as I asked her what was said.

"Just general stuff. Apparently emails have been going around since early this morning because people have nothing better to do with their time. A few of the older ladies went on about how glad they were that "such a troubled young man has found someone", others wondered how you did it, and unfortunately, looks like not everyone buys the whole 'dating' cover up, but they'll believe it after a week." She said.

"Cool." I said dully.

"Oh, don't be like that, try to have fun with it, Tenten." Sakura laughed.

"Yeah, people think your dating Konoha's number one bachelor; you could at least pretend to like him." Ino said.

"That would be significantly easier if I knew anything about him." I said, which was true. Now that I thought about it, Neji Hyuga was still a perfect stranger to me.

"Oh I understand. Gosh, if only there was a way for you to find out about him. It's not like you're sitting across a table from his cousin or anything." Ino rolled her eyes, and across the table from me, Hinata laughed.

"Smart ass." I muttered darkly to her, then looked up at Hinata, "but anyway, since she does have a point…" I left the sentence unfinished and the question unasked, silently willing her to offer up any information she thought might help me out a bit.

I wasn't disappointed. By the time our food arrived, I thought I might be able to write a book all about the likes and dislikes of Neji Hyuga, and the flow of information continued on even after that: he likes seafood, and hates spiders, enjoys an occasional game of Shogi (an interest no doubt helped along by knowing Shikamaru), used to study martial arts, never played an instrument, but finds the sound of a flute relaxing, prefers murder mysteries, got top marks in every class he's ever taken, has this annoying skill of winning just about any dispute (apparently a big reason Hiashi's giving him the opportunity to take over the family company), and the list went on until I stopped her, saying that if she kept up I was going to know more about Neji than I did about anyone else, and that would just be creepy, to which she laughed, but agreed.

We joked and laughed for the rest of the meal, somehow having Hinata there seemed to fill the gap none of us knew was there before, but it made the night that much more fun.

~!X!~

Almost two weeks passed with relative ease. We all spent more time with Hinata, who was slowly coming out of her shell, Shikamaru moved back to his own place (but would call or drop by on occasion, for various reasons, which Sakura and I noticed with increasing enjoyment), and I fell back into a usual working pattern with Lee and Kiba, the latter still cracking jokes about Neji and I. As for our little act, so far we hadn't done much; apparently Neji was in the process of trying to set up some sort of business deal with an unwilling partner, so there didn't seem to be a whole lot of room for a girlfriend.

On a Thursday morning I met Hinata for a quick fast-food breakfast before we both went to class, and she mentioned that her father had asked about Neji's supposed relationship. He wanted to know why he still hadn't heard anything, even though the secret was out. I asked her what she thought I should do, but she didn't have advice better than just "do something you'd do if you actually were dating," which didn't really help me much, considering I had never once stopped to ask myself exactly what I would do if I was dating Neji Hyuga.

I didn't dwell on it too much, but Friday afternoon an idea struck me, and I left work ten minutes early to take a bus to the business sector. I asked a man on the street wearing a business suit directions to the Hyuga offices, and stopped in a little sandwich shop just down the street, leaving with a tuna sandwich in a to-go bag.

My final destination was a sixteen story building, the interior of which was decorated lavishly and had that unnatural chill that only office buildings could have. A receptionist sat behind a large curved desk under the Hyuga name and logo, typing fervently at a computer. I approached her cautiously, horribly conscious of how loud my footsteps echoed around the room.

"Can I help you?" the lady asked when I reached the desk, but didn't take her eyes off the screen.

"Um, yes, could you please tell me where Neji Hyuga's office is?" I asked nervously.

"Mr. Hyuga is incredibly busy, and has asked that any visitors leave a memo." Attention still held by the computer, she pointed at a pink memo pad and pen at the edge of the desk.

I was a little put off, but not willing to turn around and leave so soon. I hated to play this card, but Hinata's words came back to me about people wondering about the secrecy, so, trying to sound polite but determined, I spoke again: "I understand, but maybe he'd understand an exception being made for his girlfriend?" I tried not to blush as I addressed myself as such.

Finally, her eyes met mine, and sudden realization showed on her face. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I should have realized." She said hastily, grabbing a post-it pad and pen and turning her chair to face me. "You'll want to take the elevator to the fifteenth floor, and go right down the hall, then a left at the next opportunity. The door is number 153, but it'll also have his name on it, so you can't miss it. His secretary's name is Ayame, she's been asked not to let anyone in without an appointment, but just make sure she knows who you are, and I doubt there'll be a problem." As she spoke, she scribbled the instructions onto a post-it which she handed to me, smiling.

I thanked her and walked past the desk to the elevator in the middle of the building. I hit the number for fifteen and waited patiently as I started the assent. At the seventh floor, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open, and to my horrible bad luck, in walked Hiashi Hyuga himself. He seemed preoccupied, and didn't acknowledge my presence immediately. I was contemplating hitting the button for the next floor to get away when he seemed to recognize my profile (no doubt by now he had seen one or both articles about his nephew and I).

"You are Tenten?" I wasn't quite sure if he was genuinely asking, or if he was giving me the chance to lie because he disapproved (I admit, maybe old jeans and sneakers were not quite the appropriate choice of wardrobe for the atmosphere).

Hoping for the best, I tried for a nice smile, "Yep, that's me."

"Hmm." He seemed intent on his appraisal, and I didn't say anything else for fear of saying the wrong thing. The doors opened on the twelfth floor, Hiashi said, "well, good day to you, Tenten." and stepped out. I stared after him until the doors closed, unsure what to think.

I finally reached the right floor and followed my written out instructions to the right door. Mentally preparing myself to keep up the façade, I opened the door and stepped in. The room was pretty bare, the door opened up into a short hallway, on the right was what looked like a mailing room, and on the left was an extra storage space. At the end of the hallway, the secretary that the receptionist had warned me about looked up from a file in front of her, already ready to turn away who ever had come through the door. Just like the receptionist, the same look of realization appeared, and whatever she was about to tell me was forgotten.

"Miss. Hisagia!" she uttered in surprise.

"Hello there," I faked a cheery smile, "Is Neji too terribly busy right now?"

"Well…" she glanced nervously at the door over her right shoulder, a window stood next to it no doubt showing the office beyond, but the blinds were drawn inside, "He's on the phone right now…" She seemed torn between turning me away and not following directions.

Since she was taking too long, I made the decision for her, "Alright, I'll just pop in for a minute and be on my way." I held up the bag from the sandwich place and trusted her to understand that I brought lunch. She let me pass with no further complaint.

I could hear Neji's muffled agitated voice behind the door, and when knocked just to be polite, I was met with what sounded like a pen being thrown at the door inside. Ayame seemed to take that as a bad sign, but I waved her away and winked, quietly stepping inside anyway, closing the door behind me.

Once Neji got over the initial bit of surprise to see me, he resumed the glare that I assume had been in place before he saw who I was. Phone pressed to his ear, and glare still in place, he continued the conversation I'd interrupted, "Mr. Sukiyami, I understand your concerns, but you have to realize that we're offering you an alternative to losing a substantial amount of business-" he broke off, apparently interrupted by whoever was on the other line. As he waited for another opportunity to speak, he gestured to the pen lying innocently at the foot of the door, so I brought it to him, watching with only a mild curiosity as he scribbled out some lines and added notes to what looked like a rough draft of some sort of contract.

"Yes, you're going to lose clients either way," he was saying, "Why not soften the blow as much as possible?"

I could hear this Mr. Sukiyami start a rant about exactly why he would _not_ 'soften the blow as much as possible', and Neji rubbed his temples in an exhausted sort of way. Taking pity on him, I cautiously dropped the bag I'd brought him on the desk, to which he raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged.

Apparently, there was no end in sight for Mr. Sukiyami's tirade, so Neji found an opening just big enough to interrupt him, "Mr. Sukiyami, I'm so sorry, something's just come up, I'll have to call you right back." Mr. Sukiyami obviously did not like the idea of waiting for a call back, so Neji continued, "Yes, yes, and I do appreciate your patience, thank you very much. Just a few minutes, please." He hung up the phone with a long sigh, fingers still rubbing his temple, but didn't pause for long before turning on me.

"You know, most people would understand that throwing things across the room at being interrupted is a sign to go away." He told me.

"Oh, is that what it meant? I thought you were just acknowledging my presence and that I was welcome to come in." I said.

"You would." He nodded in a sarcastic sort of way, pulling the paper bag toward him curiously, "So what is this for?"

"Well, I just thought if I were ever to actually date a guy like you, I fancy myself as the kind of girlfriend that would bring lunch to the office on occasion." I said, sinking uninvited into the chair across his desk.

"Right… Tuna." He stated, looking at me suspiciously, "How did you know?"

"Hinata mentioned you liked it." I shrugged.

"You talk to Hinata?"

"Well yeah, we go to school together." I said obviously.

"I mean outside of school." He clarified

I smirked, "Bother you?"

He _almost _smirked in return, "slightly."

I laughed. "By the way, I ran into your uncle in the elevator. Kind of the single most awkward two and a half minutes of my life." I told him.

He nodded, "He has that effect on people. Don't let it get to you."

"Is that the only advice I get?" I joked.

"Unfortunately, there's not much else to give. Hiashi is a complex man." Beside him, the phone rang; reminding us both that it _was _the middle of a work day.

Neji looked at the caller ID and his shoulders sunk a little. "Looks like your few minutes are up." I laughed. "I'll get out of your hair." I stood to leave.

"Yeah. Thank you, Tenten." He gesture gratefully to the sandwich.

"Don't mention it." I smiled. To my surprise, he returned the smile before answering the phone, Mr. Sukiyami's angry voice echoing from the receiver.

I slid quietly from the room, waving goodbye to Ayame, who happily wished me a good afternoon on my way out.

~!X!~end~!X!~

Nothing else to say for this one. Please review and stuff…


	7. can't believe I signed up for this

The following afternoon I got off an earlier shift of work to discover a new voicemail on my phone. I didn't recognize the number, but after listening to the message ("It's Neji, call me back when you can.") I had to seriously wonder why it never occurred to me to get his number before now, and for that matter, how he managed to get mine… Anyway, I waited until I got home to call him back, preferring the quieter atmosphere.

"Tenten." He answered on the first ring.

"Waiting for my call?" I asked jokingly, holding the phone between my shoulder and ear to sort through mail.

"I was, actually. Are you free for dinner Monday?"

"That's awfully forward of you, what's the occasion?"

"I'm trying to close a deal…"

"Ah, so this is a _business_ dinner. And here I thought you just wanted to see me." I sighed dramatically, hand on my hip, and heard the slightest chuckle.

"Sorry, I find dining with other families significantly easier if I bring someone else along." He confided.

"Hm, well, when you put it like that, I suppose I can find the time for dinner Monday night. What time did you have in mind?"

"I made reservations for six forty-five."

"Huh. I work until six, but we're pushing it, so I'll try to sneak out earlier."

"I'd appreciate the effort. I'll plan to pick you up at six thirty then."

"Right-o, sounds fabulous. Well, Mr. Hyuga, if that'll be all, I look forward to seeing you Monday evening." I said, unable to resist a fake snobbish voice.

His brief goodbye didn't match my enthusiasm nearly as much I was hoping for, but I reminded myself to give some leeway for his straight edged personality.

~!X!~

When I met the others for dinner that night I asked Hinata just out of curiosity if she knew about the deal Neji was trying to make. She was sketchy on the details, but knew he was essentially trying to pick up a business run by a Mr. Sukiyami (the same Sukiyami he'd talked to on the phone as a matter of fact), who was a smart man, but made some bad business choices and was now struggling to dig himself out of a hole caused by too many big clients he was unable to fully cover according to their contracts. Neji was trying to stop the business from going under entirely, so as to transfer some of those clients to the Hyuga's, but Mr. Sukiyami knew that and was unwilling to accept the 'help' and hand over his biggest assets.

All talk of Neji ended there, and instead we humored Ino as she ranted about Shikamaru smoking in her apartment again, which seemed to remind Hinata of something.

"By the way," Hinata started when Ino had apparently finished, "Shikamaru's birthday is next week, and I guess there's a plan to get together at the Akimichi's restaurant to celebrate. I'm supposed to tell you guys that you're all invited."

"Akimichi? Don't they own one of the best places in Konoha?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah. Choji has been Shikamaru's best friend practically since birth." Sakura told me.

"Hm. A party for Shikamaru, of all people, doesn't really sound all that exciting…" Ino said, and I had to admit I kind of got that impression from him myself.

"Well, it's not exactly a party…" Hinata said.

"I think it sounds like fun, and we could all use the excuse to get out." Sakura said loudly.

For a second I thought Ino might say something to the contrary, just for the sake of arguing, but she didn't, and instead muttered "yeah, yeah" and took another bite of her food, while Sakura shot me a discrete smile and wink, which I returned, to Hinata's confusion.

~!X!~

Monday rolled around, and unfortunately I wasn't able to leave work early, as I'd hoped, so it was with great haste that I left the shop at 6:02. To my great surprise though, the first thing I saw outside was Neji's car, parked illegally in front of the doors. I couldn't see him through the tinted windows, but could practically feel his brainwaves urging me to hurry my ass up.

"What brings you here, of all places, so early?" I asked as I slid unceremoniously into the passenger seat.

"If I were ever to seriously date a girl like you, I consider myself the type of boyfriend that would pick her up from work on occasion." He replied simply, with just a little hint of sarcasm, pulling away from the curb.

"Aw, really? I never would have guessed." I gushed

"Actually, I'm just saving time." He said impassively.

I rolled my eyes, "my hero." I muttered dryly.

A minute or two later, Neji slid the car into a parking spot near the front of my building. By the time he'd turned off the ignition, I'd already unlatched my seatbelt and pushed the door open. "I can be ready in twenty. You're welcome to come up and watch tv or something until then." I told him as I stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut. I didn't wait to watch him accept or decline the offer, but he followed me to the stairs, so I guess it didn't really matter.

"Alright, there's the tv, there's the kitchen, have at it." I told Neji, gesturing to the respective places, as we stepped into my apartment. I made a beeline for the bathroom to get ready as he perched gracefully on the couch, remote in hand.

I stepped out twenty minutes later, hair slightly damp still, but pulled into a passable looking bun behind my head, wearing a black, high waist, pencil skirt over a white blouse with floral looking detail on the right shoulder. I grabbed my black pumps and a bright blue beaded necklace from my room before going back out into the front room.

Upon entering, I found Neji peering silently under my couch for reasons unknown, but by the time I registered what I was seeing, he had already stood up and was looking remarkably unabashed for someone caught snooping around.

"Looking for something?" I asked, eyebrows raised and eyes narrowed. The only sign that he might have been the least bit embarrassed was the awkward way he dusted off his pants

"Not really…" He said calmly, but went on to mumble in his defense, "Just seems that I've misplaced my favorite jacket…"

Maybe it was just me, but suddenly the air seemed just a little heavier. "Oh, that's too bad…" I tried to sound sympathetic, "I uh, haven't seen anyone else's jacket around here, but uh, if I do, I'll let you know…" I assured him lamely.

He regarded me skeptically, but thankfully didn't call my bluff. "Shall we go then?" he asked, glancing at the clock on the wall reading 6:36, I hastily agreed.

~!X!~

On the way to the restaurant (some fancy Italian place with a name I dare not try to pronounce) Neji gave me the basic rundown of what he expected of the night, and "my role" in all of it. He would converse idly with Mr. Sukiyami about anything the man brought up, and I was supposed to find something to compliment Mrs. Sukiyami for, and then begin a similar meaningless conversation between the two of us. We were to do this until our meal came, at which time Neji would breach the subject of merging with Mr. Sukiyami, and I was to enter the conversation absolutely no more or less than his wife did. If things started to go badly, it was my job to, as unobtrusively as possible, direct attention away from the subject at hand by casually engaging Neji in a side conversation. When everything was smoothed over, I would chat with Mrs. Sukiyami again while Neji tried a different approach. That was the plan, to be repeated as many times as it took or until we just couldn't drag out the meal any further. As the car pulled up to the valet, he gave me one final heads up that Mr. Sukiyami was known for a terrible temper, and not to panic should things go badly.

Like the true gentleman he was raised to be, Neji opened the door for me and followed half a pace behind me over the threshold. Immediately, a thin man, on the short side, with gray streaked hair and a neat gray suit turned and stepped towards us, behind him, a tall, dark haired, well-endowed woman in a long red dress strutted after. My attention focused elsewhere, I didn't notice Neji step up to my right and snake his hand around to rest on my hip, lightly urging me forward. I was on the verge of asking what he was doing when I remembered that I was, after all, here as a date figure, so I hurriedly tried to rearrange my awkwardly surprised expression into a pleasantly interested one as Neji greeted Mr. Sukiyami and his wife and introduced me to both.

We followed the Sukiyami's to our table, and Neji wasted no time in indulging Mr. Sukiyami in a conversation about golf (of all things). Following his lead, I drew Mrs. Sukiyami's attention to an expensive looking bracelet on her wrist, asking in an exaggerated impressed tone where she got it. As I found out, it was not hard at all to occupy this womans attention. I'd given her the perfect opportunity to rave about the extravagant accents of her life, and as soon as she'd gushed about the bracelet in question, she continued to explain, in great detail, how much she _adored _the jewelry shop she'd bought it from, and described nearly every other piece she owned from them, and by the time our meal was on the table, she was fawning over her car and her clothes and her house.

Of course, I couldn't relate to anything the woman said and was rather fed up with listening to her talk, so, after only a few bites of my dinner (some kind of pasta; I didn't know what it was called exactly, as I'd been unable to read the menu written in fluent Italian, and ended up just closing my eyes and pointing at something when the waiter asked what I wanted), I casually placed down my fork and excused myself to the restroom.

Much to my dismay, my escape was ruined when Mrs. Sukiyami happily exclaimed "Oh, I'll go with you, darling! I could do with a chance to freshen up!" she followed that statement with one of those annoying giggles I'd come to hate in the short time since meeting her. As the two of us left the table, I discretely shot Neji an annoyed look that he pretended not to notice and continued his discussion.

Upon reaching the bathroom, I pretended to fuss with my hair at the counter as my unfavorable guest fished through her fancy little purse for a compact powder case, talking all the while about her new desperately expensive, but oh so adorable little dog.

"Of course, Jiro doesn't really like him, but then, he doesn't really like a lot of things." She was saying, giving another dumb giggle. By now I'd come to assume that Jiro was her husband's name.

"In fact, sometimes I stop and ask myself what it was that made me marry him, but then of course I remember he was just _so_ sweet when we met in France two years ago." She laughed again, pausing in her task of reapplying lipstick. "You know, when we first started seeing each other he bought me this _darling _necklace, specially made from one of Paris's best, too. I knew then that I could really be happy with him." She sighed in a dreamy reminiscent sort of way, and I tried to smile like I understood. "But then when we decided to get married there were all sorts of little snags, the main one being my husband at the time… the poor man just couldn't accept that I was happy with someone else... so then we had to go through the courts to finalize the divorce, then move all of my things from there to here…" She trailed off, now running fussy fingers through her long hair.

"But anyway, Tenten, darling-" I tried not to cringe, "Now you know my story, and I must say, I'm simply _dying _to know yours." She gave me a sly look and I could only imagine what she was talking about.

"I'm sorry? What story?" I asked.

"You and Neji, of course!" she exclaimed. "Obviously, I've seen the articles, but come now, surely you don't believe I don't expect there might be a few hidden details somewhere?"

I was determined to keep my cool. "Hidden details? What do you mean?"

"Well, really! Don't get me wrong, dear, but I can't help but be skeptical at the thought of Neji Hyuga and someone like you just happening to fall in love out of the blue!" She laughed. My eye twitched. '_someone like m__e? Bitch.'_ But wait, there was more: "I mean, you're a beautiful girl and all, and sure, maybe you really do have a few mutual friends that might have made a meeting possible, but really, obviously he wouldn't have fallen for you without a few gentle _nudges_ in that direction." she beamed while I tried my damndest not to scowl.

"Well, the chance meeting was just the start," I tried to sound sincere, "I found Neji to be an interesting person to talk to and-"

"Please, darling, you don't have to tell that story to _me_." She assured me, "I bet I know _exactly_ what you were thinking when you first met." She winked in a sickening sort of way. "After all, it was the same when I met Jiro." Uh-oh. Now I finally started to understand where she was going with this. "You know, in the very beginning you just can't help but notice him on the other side of the room; a handsome, well groomed, imposing figure… and then someone tells you who he is, and you understand then that he's not just handsome and respected, but _powerful_ too. You know that here's a man that's going places, and you just have to take your chance to be the one to go there with him…" She had that dreamy look in her eye again, this time clouded with ample amounts of a deranged sort of hunger.

I wasn't quite sure when I started to grip the counter hard enough to turn my knuckles white, but I hastily let go as Mrs. Sukiyami continued on, back to her annoyingly chipper self, "Oh, I'm so glad we had this opportunity to chat, Tenten. It's hard to find another girl that understands me." She beamed, "well, I think I'm feeling much more refreshed now. Shall we go back then?" Without waiting for me to answer she walked to the door. While her back was turned, I took a second to take a deep breath and collect myself before following.

Mrs. Sukiyami started chatting about an old flame with a young man who once visited her from England on the way back to the table, and in my desperate attempt to find anything else to focus on, my eyes found Neji and Mr. Sukiyami, both seated stiffly in their chairs. I couldn't see Mr. Sukiyami's face, but Neji's looked the way it had when they spoke on the phone and things weren't going as planned. As we approached Neji gave me a look that I took to mean it was time for an intervention.

"Darling," I said as sincerely as I could as I sat back in my chair, "I couldn't help but notice, the ladies room is decorated in the perfect shade of lilac, with beautiful white accents. Wouldn't it be nice if we redecorated my bathroom like that?"

"The rest of your apartment is green and white," He told me, looking very much like I _had_ just dragged him out of a conversation, "wouldn't the purple bathroom be odd?"

"Well in that case, maybe we should just repaint the whole place. I'm feel it's time for a change, anyway." I shrugged.

"Then why not just move somewhere else? You're place is too small, anyway." He mumbled the last part, taking a sip from his wine.

"It is not small; it's _cozy_." I defended.

At this point, Mr. Sukiyami joined in. "A good chair is cozy; a small apartment is just cramped. You ought to take Neji's advice on this one." He told me.

"Now Jiro, don't go sticking your nose where it doesn't belong." Mrs. Sukiyami scolded lightly, "I think Tenten's at perfect liberty to do whatever she wants with her own home, no matter what size it is." She winked at me. Neji pulled Mr. Sukiyami into talk of vacation houses and before I knew it, I was once again talking with Mrs. Sukiyami about nail polish brands I'd never before heard of.

Almost fifteen minutes later, as we'd all just about finished our food and I was about ready to gouge out my eardrums, Mr. Sasaki's voice had risen again. I looked up for something to say to interrupt, but Neji's hand found my knee under the table and silenced me, and I understood that somehow or another, things were going the way he wanted.

"So are we in agreement then?" Neji asked, cutting off Mr. Sukiyami's latest tirade.

He looked like he'd just swallowed a lemon as he replied, "Yes, I suppose we are. I must be a god damned fool for it, but you've given me no other alternative. You can have my damn client list. Whole God damned family full of vultures… I suppose you have something for me to sign, in that case?" ooh, Mr. Sukiyami was not happy about this. His anger at the situation practically rolled off in waves as Neji pulled a piece of paper and pen out of the pocket inside his jacket.

He muttered furiously as they both signed their names on respective lines, and as soon as he'd scrawled his huge loopy signature on, over, and around his line he tossed down the pen and stood up abruptly. "Well, if that's all, Mr. Hyuga, my wife and I will be leaving now." He said savagely, motioning his wife up (she complained a little about wanting more wine, but nobody paid her any attention). Mr. Sukiyami stormed away from the table, muttering about what a surprise it was he didn't need to sign in blood, and Neji and I were left at the table alone, the subject of many stares from the other diners.

"Well… that went well…" I said.

"As well as can be expected. As I said earlier, his temper and stubbornness make Jiro Sukiyami almost impossible to compromise with. He's got to be backed into a corner before he agrees to anything, and even then, it can be difficult." Neji said, calmly tucking the signed contract and pen back into his pocket. "Are you finished?"

"Oh, yeah." I pushed away my empty plate as Neji signaled for the check.

~!X!~

Neji dropped me off at home around 9:45 with only brief goodbyes. I thanked him for dinner to be polite, and he waved me off, thanking me in turn for keeping Mrs. Sukiyami busy, for which I informed him he owed me big, because that woman was something else.

I got upstairs to find a voicemail on my cell (which was left behind for the night for lack of a place to put it). It was Ino, giving the official time and day for Shikamaru's birthday (next Tuesday at 7:00), and saying that I'd better be there because if she had to go, then God knew I was going to suffer through it with her.

After sending a quick text to Ino confirming that I'd got the message, I went to bed early, overall pretty satisfied with how the day went.

~!X!~end~!X!~

There was a point in this one where I wondered if I'd be able to finish it in a remotely timely manner. About half way through I just couldn't bring myself to write anymore, let alone write anything good, but here you go. It seems a bit like a filler chapter, not a whole lot going on, but we'll see how the next one goes, shall we?


	8. Acting the part

Needless to say, the last eight months have not been supremely productive, but I finally managed to piece together a chapter I can be satisfied with. The flow might be a bit off, considering that some parts were written at least six months before others, but I ask that you faithful readers, whom I am eternally grateful for, will bear with me. With any luck, the next chapter will be a bit more loveable, and posted in a more timely manner than 8 months. My main goal with this one was some Neji-Tenten bonding, so feel free to give feedback on that… On a slightly unrelated note, I fixed up some of the spelling and grammar issues in chapters 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7, just so you know…

_~!X!~_

The next afternoon at work Lee mentioned he'd been denied a job he'd tried for again, and while he tried to pretend he didn't care, I gave him an old ice cream gift card I'd been saving, and Kiba and I sent him out early to go do something fun for the rest of the day. The typical lunch hour rush was tough with out him, but we managed.

Wednesday dragged on and on; lectures in class and an unusually slow work day that I was glad to see the end of.

Thursday, my last class of the day was cancelled (the professor apparently had to rush his dog to the vet), and since I didn't have enough time to make going all the way back home before heading to work worth it, and since I was closer to that end of town anyway, I went to see Neji instead. The same receptionist from before let me pass with a cheery greeting, but this time no one joined me in the elevator. The secretary, Ayame, met me upstairs as I walked through the door, and when I asked, she told me that she hadn't seen Neji come out of the office all morning, which really made my plan just that much more doable.

With out knocking, I walked right through the door separating Neji's office from the rest of the room. He looked up at me from a stack of paper about three inches high. When I caught sight of the stack, I couldn't help myself from talking before he could even ask what I was doing. "Christ, are you seriously reading _all _of that?" I asked in disbelief.

He regarded me with badly hidden annoyance, but answered none the less. "This is the official terms and conditions of my deal with Sukiyami, as well as a full summary of everything both of our companies owned before then, and what each of us have now."

I noticed another pile off to the side, not quite as big, and assumed it to be the pages he'd already read from the aforementioned 'terms and conditions'. As I opened my mouth, a small chime sounded from his computer. I looked at it confused, and Neji turned his chair towards the screen and answered my unspoken question: "an email I've been expecting." He said clicking once or twice and starting to read.

"Good God, you are _so_ lucky I came when I did." I told him

"Am I?" he asked, ever so slightly raising a curious eyebrow, but not moving his eyes from the computer.

"Yes, you just don't quite realize it yet. Come on, let's go out."

"I'm a bit preoccupied…" He'd now started a reply to the email.

In the process of rolling my eyes, I spotted the electrical outlet on the wall almost behind the still open door. "Neji?" I asked as innocently as I could, "Is this the plug for your computer?" I pointed at it.

He glanced up just long enough to see what I was pointing to, then kept typing, "Yes, it is. And since I'm working on some important things, I'd appreciate it if you didn't touch it." He gave me a warning stare as I took a step closer to the wall.

"Get your ass out of the chair, Hyuga." I threatened, returning his warning stare with a challenging one of my own. He'd stopped typing now, and was watching me stiffly. I could tell he almost thought I was bluffing, but still held on to the possibility that I wasn't, and remained seated. I shrugged in a 'your loss' sort of way and lunged toward the socket. In that second Neji had also risen to his feet, his chair rolling backwards.

"Fine." He conceded, just as my fingers touched the plug.

Huffing, Neji grabbed his jacket (a much more professional looking one than leather), and marched from behind the desk. I let him walk in front of me through the door, but hurried next to him to grab his hand in front of an amused looking Ayame, who happily waved us goodbye.

As we went out into the hallway, Neji shot me an irritated look. "So where exactly are we going?" he asked, not trying at all to sound pleasant about it.

"Oh, I don't know. I thought maybe you could treat me to some pre-lunch dessert somewhere. You know, since I did sit through almost two hours of that Sukiyami lady for you." Thinking about her still annoyed me, and my resolve for something rich and chocolaty solidified.

"Really? I must have imagined the meal you ate while dealing with her, that I paid for, and the one with Shikamaru and your friend. My mistake for forgetting I owed you anything." He said sarcastically, stabbing the call button at the elevator.

"Technically, you and Shikamaru split the bill that time, so if you look at it from a different angle, one could argue that you paid for Ino, rather than me."

We bickered this way as we got into the elevator, and kept at it as we started the journey downward, only stopping when the doors slid open a few floors down, and once again Hiashi Hyuga entered the small box, this time accompanied by a few other people. He looked a little taken aback by the sight of Neji out of his office, and I noticed his gaze slide down to our interlocked hands, which I completely forgot about. I hastily made to let go, but Neji held on tighter, no doubt to remind me that I was playing the girlfriend role for Hiashi's benefit more than anyone else.

"Hello…" Hiashi greeted, not unkindly, us after a second. Through the blood rushing through my ears, I could hear what Neji said in return, but tried my best for a smile and small wave when the older man looked at me. "Going somewhere?" he continued conversationally.

I thought I'd better explain, since Neji wasn't willing to leave the building in the first place. "It's my doing," I said sheepishly, "I just thought I'd take him away for an early afternoon snack." I smiled.

"Hm." Hiashi gave Neji a curious look before looking back down at me, "Not a bad idea… I myself am on the way down to collect a report that was supposed to be on my desk an hour ago." On the one hand, I was delighted to see him converse about something as normal as a late report, on the other, the look of annoyance that flashed behind those gray eyes kind of made me nervous. Luckily, Neji came to the rescue by asking which report he was referring to, and the ensuing forty-five second conversation was one I frankly did not understand for all the business terms I didn't recognize and names I didn't know the significance of, so instead I just politely followed the talk with my eyes until Hiashi and the last of the elevators other occupants left us on the third floor.

We finally hit the first floor and eagerly left the enclosed space. Neji ignored the receptionist's gaze, which followed us past her desk and across the room, while I threw out a friendly wave as we passed. All the while, Neji held onto my hand until we'd cleared the front doors and turned right.

"I think that might have been the weirdest elevator ride I've ever been on..." I confided, following half a pace behind Neji, who, for all of his bickering, seemed to have a destination in mind.

"You obviously haven't been on too many elevators then." he told me, which I scoffed at.

"Oh, like you can talk, buster. At least I haven't sat behind the same desk, talking to the same people, doing the same work every single day of the last millennia." I retorted, knowing full well that I had, in fact, talked to the same people and done the same work for long enough that my claim wasn't entirely valid.

"Yes, but at least the same routine affords me a comfortable life style to show for it." he didn't say it in a condescending way, but I made an ugly face at him anyway, which he ignored.

Neji pulled open the door to what looked like a little cafe sandwiched between two considerably bigger and more impressive buildings, and allowed me to step in first. The air smelled like the perfect mix chocolate and coffee, reminding me forcefully that I hadn't eaten much that day. A waitress led us to a small, out of the way table, and took our drink orders (Neji, to my slight disgust, ordered a plain black coffee, and I opted for a very large mocha flavored milkshake).

"Anyway, Neji, while I'm thinking about it, I had something to discuss with you." I told him after the waitress brought our drinks and left with my request for a triple layer chocolate cake and Neji's for a slice of apple pie.

"Oh?" he looked at me curiously.

"Indeed. You'd consider us on friendly terms by now, right?" I asked, but plowed on before he could contradict me, "I actually wanted to ask you a slight favor." I paused to gage his reaction, but he just looked at me with that same slightly bored but curious look. "So, I have this friend, who's kind of been trying to get a job for your company for a while now-"

"Unfortunately, I can't hire people on a basis of personal favors. There are a lot of criteria that have to be met before anyone is considered." He interrupted me.

"I know, but hear me out. I'm not really asking you to hire him, just get him a serious interview. Plus, he's not interested in actually working in the business, just wants to be a part of the buildings security, but since he's so young, no one seriously considers hiring him, even though he's got all of the qualifications, so…." I trailed off as the waitress came back.

"So you're hoping that with my recommendation that won't be an issue anymore?" Neji concluded

"Yeah, pretty much." I said, a little sheepishly.

He seemed to think for a long moment, and I stayed silent for lack of any idea what to say. Finally, he seemed to reach a decision.

" I'm not usually involved with our security department, least of all the hiring process. All final appointments go to my uncle for official approval, but the actual choice is made by someone else, with or without my intervention." My shoulders sunk a little. "However. I suppose I could give a suggestion on the matter, if I had a certain name and phone number on hand…" he discreetly slid a napkin and pen across the table, and beaming, I wrote down Lee's name and contact information.

"You're amazing, Neji." I told him truthfully.

"Don't say that yet, there's no guarantee that it'll make a difference."

"I know, but still, the gesture means a lot. Lee's been really frustrated about this."

"I don't think I've ever heard of someone with a life aspiration to go into security."

"Tell me about it… Lee's a little bit… let's say eccentric…" I admitted, trying to make the point with out changing his mind.

"Of course. I have to say, you're in the habit of making some of the strangest acquaintances I've met so far."

"What are you talking about? You've only met on of my acquaintances." Though, I had to admit that seeing as that was Ino, I couldn't entirely contradict him.

"I find that usually there's no such thing as having mostly normal friends and one or two strange ones. It's an all or nothing deal."

"Oh? Imagine that. 'The Theory of Friendship,' by Neji Hyuga." I said dryly. "You should write a book."

"The perks of which, don't interest me much."

I rolled my eyes, "Right, I forgot, the world is split between Hyuga's and poor people."

"Don't be ridiculous. There's also and significant number of Uchiha in the world as well."

"My mistake entirely."

"Well it's not your fault you don't see much of the real world."

"It's a comfortable lifestyle." I shrugged, making a reference to his earlier jibe.

I was done with my cake by now, but Neji, being infinitely more refined than I was, was still slowly making his way through the last half of his own dessert. "Anyway, are you going for Shikamaru's birthday next week?" I found myself asking.

"Possibly. Depending on how the week goes." He said.

"Oh don't be like that. Your friend is turning twenty-three, you can't just blow off the celebratory dinner."

"I'd actually be quite surprised if Shikamaru doesn't blow it off, himself. He's not exactly known for his party spirit, you know."

"Yes, but we're not all as anti-social as you."

He smirked, "touché. I suppose in that case I have no choice but to go, baring any unforeseen circumstances that direct my attention elsewhere."

"That's better." I nodded in an approving sort of way. "I've never been to the Akimichi's place." I threw out conversationally, even though I knew he could have guessed as much.

"It's nice. I myself have only been a few times. It's a little more family orientated than my usual preferences."

"Ooh, an upscale family restaurant? Come to think of it, I didn't even know those existed."

"I'm not surprised," Neji said, looking behind me to signal for the bill, "such places are few and far between, but then again, I'd still hesitate to call it a family restaurant. It's really just more of a good place that tolerates children three nights a week."

"Only three nights?" I asked.

He shrugged, "People don't seem too torn up about it. Think about it, when you were a kid could you think of nothing you'd rather do than sit in a high class restaurant with your parents?"

"Point taken." I agreed. Up until I was about fifteen I considered any day that wasn't spent getting horribly dirty and sweaty a day wasted. An evening in a stuffy restaurant with a stiff dress code was pretty far down on my list of exciting things to do.

"Anyway, regretfully, I need to get back, and I'm sure you don't have time to waste the entire day away." Neji said, standing up and dropping some bills on the table with the receipt.

I sighed dramatically as I stood, "Once again, you're the raincloud on my sunny day, Neji."

He scoffed, "Please, after the amount of chocolate and sugar you just consumed, I don't believe you have enough negative energy in you to be sad about anything."

"Always so critical." I muttered, stepping past him on the way to the door.

I walked with Neji back to his building, where he asked me how I was getting back to the other end of town.

"A bus should get me there in the next half hour or so." I shrugged. He looked at me curiously then glanced up the street, as if looking for a bus he knew wasn't coming.

"Why not take a taxi?" he asked, apparently seriously lost by my logic.

"Because I don't have the money for a taxi," I rolled my eyes exasperatedly, "remember that line between Hyuga's and poor people? I'm on this side of it, Neji." I drew an imaginary line between us on the sidewalk with my foot.

"Well it wouldn't kill you to cross over on occasion." Before I could say anything to stop him he'd stepped to the curb and hailed a slow moving taxi, looking over his shoulder as he did so to verify that I was going to work next.

None of my half hearted protests were enough to stop Neji from ushering me into the back seat of the taxi and handing the driver a predetermined payment, so I ended up just glaring at him out the back window as the car departed from the curb, and rolled past the crowded bus stop I would otherwise be sitting at.

_**~!X!~**_

Upon arriving at work, I couldn't stop myself telling Lee that I'd spoken to Neji about his predicament, even though I told myself I wasn't going to say anything so it would be a surprise. His delighted look didn't allow me to stay too frustrated with myself for too long though.

"Ah, Tenten, you are without a doubt the most beautiful jewel upon my crown!" He'd said, and I laughed, even though I had no idea what crown he was talking about.

After closing the shop at 9:00, Kiba talked me into a drink at the bar down the street, which I was reluctant to do considering what happened the last time I got a bit too immersed in the party atmosphere, but like he argued, 'how much trouble could we possibly get into on a Thursday night, with just a few drinks?' Trusting my self control, by the time it came to order the first beer, I did so without regret.

Kiba's social behavior got us accepted into a rowdy group at a table near the bar, who were energetically following a basketball game shown on a wide tv screen behind the bar. I didn't care much for sports, but the atmosphere always seemed perfect for social drinking. We joined in their game of taking a shot of unnamed liquor every time whatever team we were rooting against scored or blocked a shot from our team. I sided with whatever team Kiba knew, and there was my first problem. Our team was slaughtered, and it only took the remaining thirty minutes left on the clock until everything was funny and nothing in the world seemed worth taking seriously.

It would be a few days before I'd appreciate Kiba's sense to stop me from buying anymore drinks at this point. I wasn't wasted, exactly, but just at the point where any remotely logical thought in my brain had no effect what so ever on what came out of my mouth.

"S'just another drink…" I could hear myself slurring more than once whenever he stopped me from hailing the bartender again, to which his somewhat fuzzy and slightly less slurred voice would respond, "Nope, you're done. Here, have this instead…" and he'd give me whatever he could reach; first a slightly cold chicken strip, next a salt shaker, then an empty beer bottle, which he withdrew with a "whoops…" and replaced with a stack of napkins and we both laughed.

The group we'd joined had partially dispersed now, some having disappeared towards the bathroom, one or two were picked up by friends or family, and one man had passed out right on the table, but nobody was in any state of mind to care.

"Okay!" Kiba called suddenly, standing as best he could, but stumbling a bit as he left the stool, "I'm gonna go call a taxi to take us home, cause 'cuz you're drunk… or somethin…"

"Don' be silly, Silly… I can get home… just gotta call… somebody..." I trailed off and fumbled for my phone in my pocket.

In the distant recesses of my brain, I knew I wanted to call Ino or Sakura, but try as I might to focus, my fingers were heavy and uncoordinated on the keys, and when I hit the call button, I wasn't even entirely sure who I was calling. I was greeted with a low and bored "Yes?" and it took me a moment to collect myself enough to respond.

"Huh-low?" I slurred, "Who s'it"

There was no response for a minute, so I looked at the phone once to see if the call was still connected, but had to look again to actually register that it was.

"Huh-low?" I tried again.

"… Are you drunk, Tenten?"

"Juss a 'lil.." Sober, I would have cringed at the giggle that I'm ashamed to admit escaped my throat, but I wasn't really in the mood to care much.

"Do you need me to pick you up?"

"Pffft. I can't go home with a stranger, Silly… What kinda girl do ya think I am?"

Even drunk, I could understand the exasperation behind the sigh that followed. "I think you're drunk. Tell me where you are, then don't do anything until I get there."

"I hafta breath, ya know." I giggled again, and accidentally dropped the phone, cutting off his reply.

It took me a few minutes to navigate the way off the stool, than find a safe path to ground level to locate the phone five feet away, and slowly crawl to it. By the time I held it back to my ear, still sitting on the floor, the line was dead, so I just set about the tedious task of getting back up.

The concept of time was lost at that point. Kiba rejoined me at one point, but I couldn't say for sure when he left, and we spent the next who knows how long talking about nothing and snacking on the complimentary peanuts on the bar. A hand on my shoulder brought me out of our conversation about whether the entire room was painted dark green, or if the painters just painted around the shelves and tv's on the walls.

"But how would they know what color to paint the walls until they got all the furniture in?" I was saying, "So then why bother moving everything just to- Neji!" I traced the length of his arm with my eyes until my brown ones found the light grey of his. "What are you doing here?" I laughed.

"Taking you home. Do you have everything?" he asked calmly.

"But we were having fun…" I pouted.

"I can see that, but it's a Thursday night, and we all have places to be in the morning." He looked at Kiba, who was trying in vain to piece together a destroyed peanut shell beside me, "Can I call you a taxi?"

At once, Kiba looked up with a sense of realization, "Oh! Taxi… That's who I was suppos'ta call, huh?" The two of us shared an amused look and another tipsy laugh, and Neji, looking a bit short and annoyed, told me firmly to stay exactly where I was until he came back, and he disappeared towards the much quieter back of the bar, pulling his phone from his pocket as he went.

While he was gone Kiba and I played meaningless games like who could balance a fork on our upper lips for longer, and by the time he joined us again the only thing we'd accomplished is realizing just how drunk we were, and laughing about it some. The two of us were then ushered outside, where the crisp air had a somewhat sobering effect, until a taxi pulled up to meet us at the curb a little while later. Neji helped guide Kiba into the backseat, but was unable to get an intelligible answer when the driver asked for the address, so I watched in amusement as he instead wrestled Kiba's wallet out of his pocket and showed the driver the address on his ID.

Kiba and I waved each other off as the cab pulled away, and Neji allowed me a minute of childish arm waving before ushering me into the passenger side of his own car, listening to my ramblings like a champ.

"I like your car. It's all fancy and clean. Ino's is nice, but look at this leather…" Though I was speaking practical nonsense, I was beginning to form coherent thoughts in my head, but none of them were able to have any effect on what I was saying. In a moment of sudden fatigue brought on by the effort to be in slightly more control of myself, I shifted in the seat and dropped my head heavily onto Neji's shoulder. If he minded too much, he didn't let me know… or maybe he did, and my brain was still just too fuzzy to register the complaint.

I rambled more from this position for the short drive to my apartment. What I rambled about exactly, I couldn't say for sure, and before I knew it, the car had stopped and Neji was nudging me off his shoulder and getting out. I fumbled with the door handle before giving up and just waiting for him to let me out, and when I stumbled out of the car, I didn't even have to ask him to walk me up before he started leading me to the door anyway. All the while, I couldn't convince myself to shut up…

"Hey, this is kinda familiar, huh Neji? You and me, going to my place after a few drinks?" I giggled, knowing that I should stop right there, but still not sane enough to listen.

"Yes, well, let's not spoil all the fun memories." He grunted, in what I think was a bit of a sarcastic tone, carefully balancing me against him to push the elevator call button.

I sighed, not bothering to relieve him of my weight, "That was pretty fun though…" The elevator chimed and the doors slid open, I let Neji lead me in. "We should do it again sometime." I said, unable to stop myself.

"I really don't think that's a good idea." He replied, remarkably calm and patient.

"You know, I haven't had sex with anyone since then…"

"What a travesty."

"Don't be like that." I laughed, "Have you?"

"Have I what?"

"Had sex with anyone else, duh." The doors opened, and I can only imagine how relieved he was to move us out of the cramped space and into the hallway.

"Tenten, I am not going to discuss my sex life with you like this. Just give me your keys so I can open your door for you, and I'll be on my way." We reached my door, and he held out his hand for my keys expectantly.

"Oh-ho. Sex life? That means there is someone." I stated in unabashed triumph.

He rolled his eyes. "I really don't see how it could possibly matter. Can I have your keys now?"

One more giggle, and I pressed myself in the space between Neji and my front door, facing him, and giving a challenging grin, said "frisk me."

He did nothing but stare at me. "Tsk, tsk. That's no fun, Neji… Here, I'll give you a hint. The keys are in one of my pockets, but you'll have to guess which one." I offered, as if he couldn't obviously see the shape of my key ring in the front left pocket of my jeans.

"Tenten, this really isn't getting us anywhere." He tried again, more impatiently this time.

Undeterred, my reply was a simple "Wuss," and that was all it took for him to take the small step necessary to close the gap between us.

I laughed, and tried to retreat when he moved forward. I think it was his desire to stop this retreat and any struggle and get this over with as soon as possible that drove his left hand to my right hip, applying just enough force to keep me relatively pushed against the door, while his right hand fumbled for the opening of my pocket. I reached to fight his hand off, and though I managed to get a grip on his wrist with my left hand, he shifted to lock my dominant hand between us. Grinning like a moron at the 'game' I'd instigated, I don't know how or why we made solid eye contact then, but somehow, the world around us seemed to stop.

I no longer felt the effects of the alcohol, and instead felt totally focused. The vanilla spice scent that I loved so much surrounded me, and I'd never noticed until this moment the warmth that radiated from him, or how firm his body was so close to mine. I could hear him breathing, slow and deep breaths, in contrast with my own suddenly pounding heart beat. The grey in his eyes seemed to go on for forever, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember a moment in my lifetime I'd ever wanted to kiss someone more. But did I dare? I'd almost reached the resolve necessary to close what little space there was between us, but before I could, he was pulling the key out of my pocket, and the moment I'd just imagined shattered back into reality. While I was trying to collect myself, Neji slid the key into the lock and opened the door for me, tossing the keys onto the table just inside the door for me to find later, but he still stood less than a step away from me.

"Good night, Tenten." He said softly, but I could only nod in response, and before I could do anything else, he was retreating back to the elevator.

I forced myself inside the apartment, so as to not be caught watching him leave, and quietly closed the door. Leaning my back against the cool wood, I pressed the palms of my hand into my eye sockets. "What the fuck was that?" I asked myself, silently willing the universe to answer, but none came.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I spent the first few hours lying in bed trying once more to remember the night Neji came home with me. This time, when I thought about him out in the hallway, I could almost remember the similar feeling of him next to me, but nothing lasted more than a few seconds. More than his touch, I tried harder to remember what else I felt that night. Any recollection of a feeling like the one tonight; the world stopping and the sense of longing I didn't see coming… I couldn't remember any of it. Frustrated, I fell into an uncomfortable sleep with dreams that didn't make any sense.

_~!X!~_

Never stop reviewing, loves! Seriously can't explain well enough the awesome feeling of getting reviews 8 months after the last update!


	9. Out in the Open

Merry Day -After –Christmas, everyone!

Can I just tell all of my lovely readers how absolutely amazing you are? I've received a few new reviews and story followers in the last few weeks, urging me to continue writing what they called a great and interesting story, even though it's been so very long since I've updated anything. You fantastic individuals have given me a new motivation to continue writing, but bear with me, as I've had to not only reacquaint myself with my own fanfiction, but also with the Naruto series in general (work and classes have severely cut back on the amount of anime reading and watching I am able to accomplish), plus I've had to sort through all of the documents in my "Last Night" desktop file to figure out what I had planned when I typed them, but I think I'm finally settling back on track.

So with a final "Thank You!" to all of you- Enjoy!

~!X!~ Begin ~!X!~

I didn't speak to Neji at all on Friday, but on Saturday I received a curious invitation in the mail, return labeled with the Hyuga logo, which I felt the need to call him to verify that it was indeed meant for me. He answered the phone on the fourth ring with his usual almost a little annoyed sounding tone.

"Hi Neji," I started, "I was just wondering if you could explain to me what the Serenity Winter Dinner Party is, and why I've received an elaborate VIP invitation to it." I said, holding up a thick blue and white invitation, tastefully decorated and scribed with fancy cursive writing.

I could perfectly visualize him rolling his eyes and leaning back in his chair through the phone as he began speaking. "Every year the city of Konoha puts on a dinner party attended by all of the supposed big contributors to our society, including the heads of various large companies, city council members, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera-"

"Ah, so in other words, it's a gathering of all the people I'd usually be considered too lowly to ever associate with?" I asked.

"That's not exactly the wording I was going for, but I suppose that sounds about right. Were you at all interested in the details of the event, or did you just want to clarify that one fact?"

"I think that's enough about the party. Why was I invited, exactly?"

"Because when the mayor's office called mine to get a head count for the invitations, Ayame assumed you'd be interested, and I didn't suggest otherwise, and thus, your name got put on the list with mine. Is this a problem?" 

"Not really. Just wasn't sure you'd trust me at such an event is all."

I heard the smallest chuckle over the line, "Tenten, you've managed to put up a passable façade thus far, so why would I doubt you in a month's time?"

"Passable?" I questioned, managing to sound just slightly insulted.

"Oh very well, you've done a perfectly acceptable job with the task at hand, Miss. Hisagia. Now, if you'll excuse me, my other phone is ringing."

"Are you in the office? It's Saturday!" I cut off his attempt at pleasant goodbye's.

"Well maybe if I wasn't indulging so many other personal visits and phone calls every other day of the week, I'd spend less time here on weekends. I really have to go, now." He said a quick goodbye and hung up before I could get out a comment about needing a personal life in order to get personal phone calls and visits.

~!X!~

The next two days were uneventful as ever. I worked a double shift on Sunday, and spent all day Monday at school attending classes and studying for the upcoming finals week.

At 6:40 on Tuesday evening Ino and Sakura picked me up in the parking lot of my apartment for the dinner, which despite Shikamaru's efforts to call off, was still scheduled as planned. When we came through the doors to the reception area, we were greeted first by Hinata, who seemed to have been waiting by the door for us. Looking past her into the room, the only other people there that I knew were Neji, looking thoroughly bored leaning against the wall, and Shikamaru, as bored as Neji and seemingly annoyed to match. I recognized the profiles of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Choji Akimichi seated on the chairs lining the hall, but as this was the first time I'd really seen any of them in person, I was sort of at a loss for what I could possibly have to say to any of them.

After a moment of recognition, Naruto rose to offer Sakura a greeting and a hug, and I didn't miss the genuine smile the two shared at seeing each other again. I noticed Sasuke seemed awfully stiff in his chair, but recognized that it was hardly my place to point that out. I followed Ino to Shikamaru to wish happy birthday, which he brushed off anyway, saying that he really didn't care about celebrating another year, he was just here for the food. On that cue, we were lead to sit around a large circular table in the far end of the dining room and immediately served with glasses of champagne.

I found myself sandwiched between the familiar forms of Sakura and Neji on my right and left, looking at what seemed like the first menu I could actually understand in a while. To be honest, I'd almost forgotten the joy of ordering in a restaurant and knowing exactly what I was asking for. Neji chuckled at me when I mentioned this, and I told him he'd just forgotten how to enjoy the little things in life, which he ignored, in favor of discussing something with Sasuke, who was seated on his other side, while Sakura directed my attention back to the menu and started asking which of several dinner options I thought sounded more appealing.

We'd almost finished dinner and a second bottle of champagne over the course of several amusing topics, when Naruto's voice broke from whatever conversation he was having with Choji .

"Oi, Neji!" he started, and Neji looked across the table at him curiously. "When were you planning on letting the rest of us in on your latest scandal, huh?"

"Actually, the thought of doing anything of the sort never crossed my mind." Neji stated in a pretty deadpanned voice, and in the midst of trying to subtly distance myself from him, even I had to admire his poker face.

"Aw don't be like that! I was practically the one to introduce you guys by making you go to that party, I have the right to know the aftermath!" he insisted.

"Well, at least now I 'practically' know who to blame for ruining my life." I muttered into my champagne glass. Beside me, Sakura giggled into her own.

"Tenten, you're life wasn't ruined, it was made significantly more interesting, if you'd only learn to sit back and enjoy it." Ino said.

"Fine, next time you can pretend to date one of the most difficult men on the planet, and then let me know how interesting it is." I told her.

"No thank you," she said heavily, "I've already served my time, remember?" she rolled her eyes in Shikamaru's direction, who looked affronted.

"I don't know what you're complaining about." Neji told me, "I think this whole thing has been rather easy on you, all things considered."

"Nah," Naruto interjected, "I get where she comes from. You rich guys are exhausting to keep up with."

"Exactly!" I exclaimed, "Someone who understands me!" I raised my hand for a high-five over the table, which Naruto enthusiastically returned.

"Well Naruto can hardly complain, as he routinely chooses to go out of his way to force his company on those of us with other priorities." Sasuke stated, looking bored.

"Shut up, Teme, you wouldn't know what to do without me." Naruto glared and stuck his tongue out.

"Ha, Sasuke has shown before how willing he is to leave friends behind in life…" She spoke softly, but all eyes turned to look at Sakura, who was gazing distantly around the room around the rim of her empty champagne glass, apparently unaware that she'd even spoke aloud. All at once, she seemed to become aware of all of us, and a small blush spread across her cheeks, "Oops, I've obviously had more than enough of this…" she said lamely, placing her glass carefully on the table.

"No, Sweety, that was a good start. Here, have mine, too." Ino said, a little in disbelief, reaching over Shikamaru to place her own glass in front of Sakura.

"Something you wanted to say, Sakura?" Sasuke asked quietly. The rest of us remained silent.

"Not particularly. You didn't have any inclination to listen to me the last time I was honest with you, so why would now be much different?" She was idling playing with the glass Ino had set in front of her, and I knew she was contemplating just how worth it it would have been to down its contents and speak her mind.

"Okay!" Naruto interrupted, clapping his hands together nervously, "Dinner was great, now who's up for catching the game tonight? I hear Shikamaru's got a pretty fancy new TV set up at his place, right?" he looked expectantly at Shikamaru, who appeared to scramble for words.

"Uh, yeah. It's a sixty inch screen, but I'm still working on setting up the surround sou-"

"Huh. I thought we were all able to overlook such childish dramatics." Sasuke interrupted him, cool black eyes staring directly at Sakura in a way that even made my hair stand on end, and I wasn't even in it's direct path.

A cross look came over her features, and with a huff of indignation, she grasped Ino's champagne and took a swig before I could take it away from her, "I was thirteen and heartbroken, asshole!"

"Sakura, that's enough…" I tried in vain, Hinata making similar gestures across the table.

"I don't see how I can be blamed for the complexities of your adolescent emotional attachments."

"No, but you can be blamed for being an insensitive jerk about it. That really hurt, you know? And who the hell did you think you were to just waltz back into the picture years later like nothing had ever happened?"

As Sasuke opened his mouth to fire a retort back at her, I felt Neji's foot slide in between our chairs, and seconds later the entire tabled shuttered and shifted suddenly, toppling several of our glasses and the water jug that'd been placed in the middle of the table. Water mixed with champagne and cascaded over our side of the table, reaching the end and dripping heavily in little streams onto the floor. Thankfully, most of us were able to jump away quickly enough to avoid a direct hit, with the exception of Sakura, whos half full glass was on the edge of the table and tipped directly into her lap. This served as a good enough distraction from the conversation at hand, and she immediately fumbled for some napkins to wipe the moisture from her clothes. I was just crouching down to press napkins into the wet carpet when Ino ushered Sakura away to the bathroom, and I was vaguely aware of Sasuke storming away from the table towards the doors, with Naruto trailing quickly behind him.

Amidst the stares of other diners, we did our best to clean up our mess, with Choji assuring us that all was well, and his parents had a top notch cleaning company employed to make the place like new again come closing time. We'd just about finished up when Ino came back to urge me up, saying that Sakura was waiting down in the car, and it would probably be best if we took our leave now. We said our good-byes and apologized profusely to both Shikamaru for ruining his birthday dinner, and to Choji for causing a scene in his parent's restaurant, and when they'd both dismissed our concerns, we quickly joined Sakura and drove away.

Understandably, Sakura wasn't feeling very well on the drive home, and we pretty much just let her vent about how stupid she felt for saying anything, but she was just so annoyed to see Sasuke again like that, and the words just started to slip out, and she couldn't find the will to stop them. I asked if she wanted me to stay the night with them and we'd make it a girls night, to which she replied that no, she was tired and miserable and just wanted to go home and sleep for the next eternity, so I let Ino drop me off at home for the night.

~!X!~

I decided to skip class on Wednesday morning, since I knew that the only thing I was missing was a couple dull lectures on the last few chapters of various subjects and a couple reminders about finals week fast approaching. I spent I spent the morning on the couch, alternating my attention between the tv and computer, and I even managed to chat with Sakura a little bit online before she had to leave for class. Only a few hours into my self-appointed mini-vacation, around eleven o'clock, a knock at my door brought me off of my couch and I was rather surprised to find Neji standing in the hall way outside my door.

"Neji, what brings you out of your official domain so early on a weekday?" I asked him as I opened the door.

He gave me a slightly pointed look. "Believe it or not, I don't live there every waking moment of the day. I had a meeting that wrapped up much more quickly than I expected, and thought I'd come deliver this." He reached into his pocket, and to my even greater surprise, withdrew my own cell phone and held it out to me.

"Hey, I thought I left that in Ino's car last night! When did you get it?" I asked him.

"You dropped it at the restaurant. Must have fallen out of your pocket while you were on the floor."

"Ah. Well thanks for that. You want to come in?"

He peered over my shoulder into the living room, which I admit, was sort of a mess. I'd been sitting on the couch in my pajamas for most of the morning, and hadn't yet gotten around to cleaning up my morning coffee mug or breakfast plate, or any of the other clutter around the room for that matter. "Actually," He said, "It looks like you're a little too comfortable in there. Why don't you come out instead? We'll get coffee."

I lifted my eyebrow at him, "But I'm not dressed to go out." I said, gesturing to my disheveled appearance clad in baggy sweat pants and a wrinkled tank top.

"I'll be waiting in the car." He insisted, and turned to leave. Rolling my eyes, I closed the door and retreated to my bedroom to find some clean clothes.

~!X!~

"So have you heard anything about the aftermath of last night?" I asked Neji a while later in a small coffee and snack shop about two blocks further from my apartment than work.

He shook his head, "No, but Naruto has insinuated that Sasuke is still sulking."

"Oh." I said, "Sakura is pretty mortified by her little outburst, but she seems to be doing much better this morning, from what little I talked to her online this morning."

He didn't reply, just sipped his coffee in a contemplative sort of way, so I continued, fiddling with my napkin to help bridge the silence. 

"Is Shikamaru angry that we caused a scene at his birthday celebration?" I asked.

"Not in the least. Typical Shikamaru, didn't want to be there in the first place, so though he found the whole evening to be exhausting, he's not at all personally offended. Besides, he's not one to get caught up in dramatics like this one."

"I figured as much. He's too damn smart to be offended like a normal person. Someone needs to talk with that man about toning down the IQ." I grumbled.

"That IQ has saved me a lot of trouble."

Focused more on folding my napkin into perfectly sized squares, I spoke without thinking, "Are you including the lame advice of ignoring a one night stand?" As the last words left my mouth, I wanted to kick myself. There it was: the forbidden subject we'd had the unspoken agreement not to touch. I hastily submerged myself in my coffee, silently hoping he missed the comment, even though that familiar contemplating raised eyebrow of his left no doubt that I wasn't so lucky. It occurred to me all at once that now not only had I brought up the unspeakable, I'd also admitted to the crime of eaves dropping on him and Shikamaru all that time ago. Suddenly the idea of disappearing into the ground didn't seem like such a horrible idea.

Though obviously taken back, he answered with the same smooth tone as ever: "Oh, so was that you throwing a tantrum it the back room that day?" Trust a Hyuga to bypass anything self-incriminating and pinpoint someone else's daily embarrassment.

"It was not a tantrum." I defended sulkily, "It was a loud show of disapproval…" I knew how lame that sounded, but 'tantrum' sounded worse in my book.

"Oh? You disapprove so strongly?" I couldn't tell if he was teasing me or making me squirm on purpose. Either way, I decided I didn't like it and tried to force my blush down to a more natural level and think of a witty remark.

"Maybe I'd have a more specific answer if I could remember the events of the night, as it is, I'm forced to conclude you didn't quite rock my world, love." This remark was supposed to serve as both slightly insulting and embarrassing. I'd hoped that by making him think about what had happened, he'd be uncomfortable enough to change the subject.

"Oh I see…" he watched me with the same kind of contemplating look, now clouded with amusement and traces of a smirk he was willing himself to hold back. Asshole.

"Any way, since you brought it up," I might have imagined the emphasis on pointing out that this conversation was my doing, "I wanted to talk to you." He said, his features sliding gracefully back into a more passive façade.

"Really?" full of surprise and apprehension, I tried to ignore the higher pitch my voice took on.

"My jacket." He'd spoken just two words, but I understood everything behind them. There was no denying it now. Last time he'd mentioned the jacket in my apartment I'd gotten out of answering because neither of us wanted to think about or admit what had transpired, so his jacket, the one irrefutable piece of evidence that it had happened, couldn't be dwelled on, but we both knew where he'd left it, and I was out of excuses to play dumb.

So how exactly does one fess up to selling a six thousand dollar leather jacket without the owner's consent? Maybe if I cried on bended knee and spouted apologies until next Tuesday he'd forgive me… Or maybe I should take the angry, defiant approach, and say I wasn't sorry because he was the dumbass that left it in the first place… As I dwelled, I slowly made my way through a few more mouthfuls of coffee, and Neji was gracious enough to allow me time to think of the best excuse I could.

"Um, about that, Neji… just for curiosity's sake, um, how fond were you of this particular jacket?" I fidgeted as I spoke, focusing on anything, from the coffee cup circles on the table to the dumpy car parked outside, so as to not meet his penetrating gaze.

"This particular jacket," (he regurgitated my own words with an extra emphasis just to mess with me, I knew it), "is my favorite, and I'd like to have it back before winter really hits."

"Ah… Winter's only like a month away…" I said feebly.

"Indeed." His almost patient silence made the confession a bit more intimidating than it should have been. For the love of god, why couldn't I be like Ino and have the ability to grow a pair at will?

"Okay, okay, okay," I said quickly, "so first of all, you have to know what an emotional wreck I was for a few days there about the whole thing, okay? So at first I really wasn't sure what to do with this jacket that wasn't mine, so I put it away in various places of my apartment, but they all just felt wrong, so, in a fit of crazy, unnecessary annoyance and frustration, I may have possibly, unintentionally, but with full knowledge of the situation…. Sold it on ebay?" I recoiled as I finished, peaking through one open eye to watch his reaction. Most of me expected anger, but aside from a slight narrowing of his eyes, he seemed relatively unaffected by my deed…. That is, until he spoke…

"You sold my favorite jacket?" His voice had gone significantly colder than usual, and I could practically see the air around him darken in a frightening way.

"I'm sorry?" I tried meekly. He didn't respond.

"In my defense, at the time I didn't know whose it was, and I definitely never thought we'd meet again, so…" I realized it was a lame defense, meant mainly to fill the silence, and all at once ran out of things to say. All the while, Neji just watched me, eyes narrowed and air heavy.

"The money you got for it?" his voice sounded just a few notches away from dangerous, so I almost lied to save my own ass, but decided honesty might be the best policy here.

"Most of it was split between repaying a loan, a doctor visit, and this month's rent." I admitted quickly.

"'Most of it?'"

"And the rest went into a shopping trip with Ino and Sakura." I mumbled, feeling the world around me slow to an all together intolerable rate.

"Ah." We fell back into that awful silence that made me squirm, and for the longest three minutes of my life Neji just sat there, still as a statue, apparently thinking of all the things to say to me.

Finally, he broke the silence, in a voice much closer to his usual tone. "So this is on you, right?" he gestured subtly to the table between us.

"Absolutely." I confirmed quickly.

"Good." He returned to sipping his coffee, and the heavy air around our table dissipated significantly, leaving behind one just a bit awkward on my part.

~!X!~ end ~!X!~

And so ends my incredible period of inactivity!

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

By the way, to all of my artistic readers! I couldn't help but notice the semi-new option to assign a cover image to fanfiction titles. I would absolutely love to have a Last Night themed Neji-Tenten picture to attach to the story, but I'm not nearly talented enough to actually make one, so if any of you artsy darlings find yourselves to be bored and in need of a project, I'd be ever so grateful if you'd consider this one. Any and all works of art can be sent to me via PM or in a review, however possible, and the creator of whichever one I like best gets a super amazing shout out in the next chapter or two.

I love you all!


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